Canonical has announced the launch of Ubuntu 15.04. The new release, which will be supported for nine months, features LibreOffice 4.4, version 3.19 of the Linux kernel and a switch from Canonical's Upstart init to systemd. "systemd has replaced Upstart as the standard boot and service manager on all Ubuntu flavors except Touch. At the time of the 15.04 release there are no known major problems which prevent booting. The only service which does not currently start is Juju, which will be fixed in a post-release update soon; all other packaged Ubuntu services are expected to work. Upstart continues to control user sessions... You can boot with Upstart once by selecting `Advanced options for Ubuntu' in the GRUB boot menu and starting the `Ubuntu, with Linux ... (upstart)' entry. To switch back permanently, install the upstart-sysv package (this will remove systemd-sysv and ubuntu-standard)." The new release offers several updates and improvements for LXC containers and this is the first version of Ubuntu to offer the LXD container management utility. Ubuntu is available in a number of editions, including Desktop, Server and Snappy, a minimal "core" installation. More details on Ubuntu 15.04 can be found in the release notes. Downloads: ubuntu-15.04-desktop-amd64.iso (1,097MB, SHA256, torrent, pkglist), ubuntu-15.04-server-amd64.iso (616MB, SHA256, torrent), ubuntu-15.04-snappy-amd64-generic.img.xz (122MB, SHA256).

Canonical has announced the release of Ubuntu 14.10, the latest version of the popular Linux distribution for desktops and servers: "Ubuntu 14.10, the latest desktop release is today available for download from Canonical. This release focuses on the developer experience, overall quality, and brings a number of important features and security enhancements. The Ubuntu desktop continues to be intuitive, easy to use and reliable for users all over the world. Ubuntu is a popular choice for developers targeting the cloud, mobile or devices because it is easy to use, fast and secure. Ubuntu 14.10 introduces the first iteration of the Ubuntu Developer Tools Centre, which makes it even easier to develop on Ubuntu. It downloads all the Android toolkits and their dependencies and integrates them with the launcher in a single command. This is first available for Android and will soon extend to other platforms such as Go and Dart." Read the official press release and the comprehensive release notes for more information. Download (SHA256, pkglist): ubuntu-14.10-desktop-amd64.iso (1,109MB, torrent), ubuntu-14.10-server-amd64.iso (582MB, torrent).

Adam Conrad has announced the release of Ubuntu 14.04.1, the first maintenance update of the popular distribution's current stable release: "The Ubuntu team is pleased to announce the release of Ubuntu 14.04.1 LTS (long-term support) for its Desktop, Server, Cloud, and Core products, as well as other flavours of Ubuntu with long-term support. As usual, this point release includes many updates, and updated installation media has been provided so that fewer updates will need to be downloaded after installation. These include security updates and corrections for other high-impact bugs, with a focus on maintaining stability and compatibility with Ubuntu 14.04 LTS. Kubuntu 14.04.1 LTS, Edubuntu 14.04.1 LTS, Xubuntu 14.04.1 LTS, Mythbuntu 14.04.1 LTS, Ubuntu GNOME 14.04.1 LTS, Lubuntu 14.04.1 LTS, Ubuntu Kylin 14.04.1 LTS, and Ubuntu Studio 14.04.1 LTS are also now available." Read the release announcement for more details. Download (SHA256): ubuntu-14.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso (981MB, torrent), ubuntu-14.04.1-server-amd64.iso (572MB, torrent).

Version 14.04 of Ubuntu, a popular Linux distribution with a highly customised user interface called Unity, has been released. This is a version with long-term (5 years) of security support and a convenient upgrade path from the previous release with long-term support features (version 12.04). From the press release: "Canonical announces the latest Ubuntu release, 14.04 LTS desktop will be available for download from the 17th April 2014. The long-term support (LTS) release is supported and maintained by Canonical for five years, making it the most stable, reliable, secure and cost-effective desktop for long-term, large scale deployments within enterprise and public sector organisations today." Read the comprehensive release notes for a detailed description of new features and known issues. Download (SHA256) links: ubuntu-14.04-desktop-amd64.iso (964MB, torrent), ubuntu-14.04-server-amd64.iso (564MB, torrent).

Adam Conrad has announced that the availability of the second and final beta version of Ubuntu 14.04, code name "Trusty Tahr": "The Ubuntu team is pleased to announce the final beta release of Ubuntu 14.04 LTS Desktop, Server, Cloud, and Core products. This beta release includes images from not only the Ubuntu Desktop, Server, Cloud, and Core products, but also the Edubuntu, Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Ubuntu GNOME, UbuntuKylin, Ubuntu Studio and Xubuntu flavours. In addition to the above flavours, it's expected that, despite missing the final beta, Mythbuntu will be participating in the final release. This is a very exciting LTS (long term support) release for Ubuntu's family of community flavours, as this is the first time that all of our flavours have applied and been approved for LTS status, some for the same five years as Ubuntu itself, and some for a shorter period of three years. This will be highlighted on a per-flavour basis in the final release announcement." Read the full release announcement and the release notes for more information and useful links. Download: ubuntu-14.04-beta2-desktop-amd64.iso (931MB, SHA, torrent). Also in the Ubuntu family are beta 2 builds for Edubuntu (download), Kubuntu (announcement, download), Lubuntu (announcement, download), Ubuntu GNOME (announcement, download), UbuntuKylin (announcement, download), Ubuntu Studio (announcement, download) and Xubuntu (announcement, download).

Colin Watson has announced the release of Ubuntu 12.04.4, the latest of the distribution's live and installation images that include all recent security and bug-fix updates. This is Ubuntu's LTS (long-term support) release, providing security updates until 2017. From the release announcement: "The Ubuntu team is pleased to announce the release of Ubuntu 12.04.4 LTS for its Desktop, Server, Cloud, and Core products, as well as other flavours of Ubuntu with long-term support. As with 12.04.3, 12.04.4 contains an updated kernel and X stack for new installations on x86 architectures. As usual, this point release includes many updates, and updated installation media has been provided so that fewer updates will need to be downloaded after installation." Please read also the release notes for more information. Download: ubuntu-12.04.4-desktop-amd64.iso (733MB, SHA256, torrent). Links to the other official Ubuntu flavours which were also updated to 12.04.4 today: Kubuntu (download), Xubuntu (download, announcement), Edubuntu (download, announcement), Mythbuntu (download) and Ubuntu Studio (download, announcement).

Welcome to the Ubuntu 13.10 release day. The first in the line-up is Ubuntu itself, Canonical's flagship product and one the world's top desktop Linux distributions - now also available for the 64-bit ARM architecture: "Canonical today announces the availability of Ubuntu 13.10 for desktop and smartphone. Ubuntu's first true mobile release delivers the streamlined core OS and mobile user interface that pave the way for full device convergence and create a unique platform for modern computing. Canonical is working with partners to bring Ubuntu smartphone devices to market in 2014. The desktop version of Ubuntu 13.10 reflects much of that progress, with scopes that organise home, apps, music, video content, lower device memory and graphics requirements and substantial improvements in battery and memory efficiency." Read the press release and the more technical release notes for further information. Download (SHA256): ubuntu-13.10-desktop-amd64.iso (883MB, torrent), ubuntu-13.10-server-amd64.iso (672MB, torrent).

Welcome to Ubuntu 13.04, the brand-new version of the world's most widely-used desktop Linux distribution: "Today's release of Ubuntu 13.04 on the desktop brings a host of performance and quality improvements making it the fastest and most visually polished Ubuntu experience to date. Performance on lightweight systems was a core focus for this cycle, as a prelude to Ubuntu's release on a range of mobile form factors. As a result 13.04 delivers significantly faster response times in casual use, and a reduced memory footprint that benefits all users. This release also illustrates Ubuntu's ongoing commitment to quality and dependability. 'Our kaizen approach to development as well as community engagement result in a high quality alternative for people worldwide,' commented Jane Silber, CEO at Canonical." See the brief press release and check out the detailed release notes to learn more about the product. Download: ubuntu-13.04-desktop-amd64.iso (785MB, SHA256, torrent).

Steve Langasek has announced the availability of the second beta release of Ubuntu 13.04, code name "Raring Ringtail": "The Ubuntu team is pleased to announce the final beta release of Ubuntu 13.04 Desktop, Server, Cloud, and Core products. Together with Ubuntu 13.04, Kubuntu, Edubuntu, Lubuntu, Xubuntu and Ubuntu Studio also reached final beta status today. We also welcome two new flavors, Ubuntu GNOME and UbuntuKylin, which are participating in the Ubuntu release process for the first time this cycle. Some of the new features available in Ubuntu 13.04 final beta are: includes the 3.8.0-16.26 Ubuntu Linux kernel which is based on the version 3.8.5 upstream Linux kernel; Unity has been updated to version 6.12." Read the release announcement and the technical overview for more details. Download: ubuntu-13.04-beta2-desktop-amd64.iso (787MB, SHA256, torrent). Also made available today were 13.04 beta 2 images for Kubuntu (download), Lubuntu (download), Xubuntu (download), Edubuntu (download), Ubuntu Studio (download) and UbuntuKylin (download).

Colin Watson has announced the release of Ubuntu 12.04.2, the latest update of the distribution's current long-term support version: "The Ubuntu team is pleased to announce the release of Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS (Long-Term Support) for its Desktop, Server, Cloud, and Core products, as well as other flavours of Ubuntu with long-term support. To help support a broader range of hardware, the 12.04.2 release adds an updated kernel and X stack for new installations on x86 architectures, and matches the ability of 12.10 to install on systems using UEFI firmware with Secure Boot enabled. As usual, this point release includes many updates, and updated installation media has been provided so that fewer updates will need to be downloaded after installation." See the full release announcement and release notes for further information. Download: ubuntu-12.04.2-desktop-amd64.iso (695MB, SHA256, torrent). The 12.04.2 builds of Kubuntu (download), Xubuntu (download), Edubuntu (download, announcement), Ubuntu Studio (download, release notes) and Mythbuntu (download, announcement) are also available.

Ubuntu 12.10 has been released. Featuring many popular open-source applications, up-to-date Unity desktop and new cloud-related features, the latest version of Canonical's Linux distribution for desktops and servers is ready for download: "Ubuntu 12.10 introduces innovations that bring together desktop and cloud-based experiences, representing the next stage in the transition to a multi-device, cloud-based world. New Previews give large, clear previews of content as it appears in the Dash search results, giving users a quick way to get more information to help find what they are looking for. The new Web Apps feature makes frequently used web applications available through the desktop." Read the release announcement and see the release notes for further information. Download (SHA256): ubuntu-12.10-desktop-i386.iso (753MB, torrent), ubuntu-12.10-desktop-amd64.iso (763MB, torrent).

Kate Stewart has announced the release of Ubuntu 12.04.1, the first of the regular updates planned throughout the product's life cycle: "The Ubuntu team is very pleased to announce the release of Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS (Long-Term Support) for desktop, server, cloud and core products. The Ubuntu LTS flavors are also being released today. In the 12.04.1 release, we've added support for the Calxeda ECX-1000 SoC family, so businesses can prepare for a data centre dominated by low-energy, hyperscale servers by testing their workloads on the new hardware now. The Ubuntu Cloud archive also makes its début." Read the rest of the release announcement for further information. Download (SHA256): ubuntu-12.04.1-desktop-i386.iso (695MB, torrent), ubuntu-12.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso (694MB, torrent). All of Ubuntu's official sub-projects with long-term support status have also been updated to version 12.04.1; this includes Kubuntu (download), Xubuntu (announcement, download), Edubuntu (announcement, download) and Mythbuntu (download).

Kate Stewart has announced the availability of the second alpha release of Ubuntu 12.10, code name "Quantal Quetzal": "Welcome to the Quantal Quetzal Alpha 2 image set, which will in time become the 12.10 release. Quantal alpha 2 includes the 3.5.0-2.2 Ubuntu kernel which was based on the 3.5-rc4 upstream Linux kernel. Other notable changes with the Quantal alpha 2 kernel include a rework of the brcmsmac regulatory support, an extensive config review for the highbank kernel flavor, and misc bug fixes. The Quantal alpha 2 kernel continues to include the transitioning of the i386 generic PAE flavor to become the generic flavor offering, collapsing of the virtual flavor back into the generic flavor." Read the release announcement and release notes for more information. Download (SHA256): quantal-desktop-i386.iso (727MB, torrent), quantal-desktop-amd64.iso (725MB, torrent). Also made available today were CD/DVD images for Kubuntu (download), Lubuntu (download), Xubuntu (announcement, download), Edubuntu (download) and Ubuntu Studio (download).

Ubuntu 12.04, the latest version of Canonical's flagship operating system featuring the Unity user interface and Head-Up Display menu system, has been released: "The Ubuntu team is very pleased to announce the release of Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Long-Term Support). Code-named 'Precise Pangolin', 12.04 continues Ubuntu's proud tradition of integrating the latest and greatest open source technologies into a high-quality, easy-to-use Linux distribution. The team has been hard at work through this cycle, introducing a few new features and improving quality control. For PC users, Ubuntu 12.04 supports laptops, desktops, and netbooks with a unified look and feel based on an updated version of the desktop shell called 'Unity', which introduces 'Head-Up Display' search capabilities." Read the release announcement and see the features page for more details. Download (SHA256): ubuntu-12.04-desktop-i386.iso (701MB, torrent), ubuntu-12.04-desktop-amd64.iso (698MB, torrent).

Kate Stewart has announced the availability of the first alpha release of Ubuntu 12.04, code name "Precise Pangolin": "We are pleased to bring you the first set of developer images that capture the current fleeting reality of our Precise Pangolin (Ubuntu 12.04 alpha 1) as it starts to emerge. Alpha 1 includes the 3.2.0-2.5 Ubuntu kernel which is based on the latest mainline 3.2-rc3 Linux kernel. This is an update from the 3.0 kernel in Oneiric. Another noticeable change is the consolidation of the amd64 server flavor into the generic flavor. This will help minimize the maintenance burden over the life of this LTS release. The alpha 1 kernel also adds support for additional ALPS touchpads, contains an updated seccomp patch set, and numerous configuration changes. See the release announcement and release notes for a more detailed list of new features, changes and known issues. Download (SHA256): precise-desktop-i386.iso (703MB, torrent), precise-desktop-amd64.iso (695MB, torrent). Also made available today were 12.04 alpha 1 images for Kubuntu (download), Xubuntu, (download), Lubuntu, (download) and Edubuntu (download).

Ubuntu 11.10, the latest version of the popular Linux-based operating system for desktops and servers, has been released: "The Ubuntu team is pleased to announce Ubuntu 11.10, code-named 'Oneiric Ocelot'. 11.10 continues Ubuntu's proud tradition of integrating the latest and greatest open source technologies into a high-quality, easy-to-use Linux distribution. For PC users, Ubuntu 11.10 supports laptops, desktops and netbooks with a unified look and feel based on an updated version of the desktop shell called 'Unity', which introduces specialized 'Lenses'. Finding and installing software using the Ubuntu Software Centre is now easier thanks to improvements in speed, search functionality enhancements, and usability improvements. Aside from updates on the performance side, it's also more aesthetically appealing." See the release announcement and release notes for further information. Download (SHA256): ubuntu-11.10-desktop-i386.iso (695MB, torrent), ubuntu-11.10-desktop-amd64.iso (697MB, torrent).

Kate Stewart has announced the availability of the third alpha release of Ubuntu 11.10, code name "Oneiric Ocelot". This release comes with the new Linux kernel 3.0, while Lubuntu (an Ubuntu variant featuring the LXDE desktop) becomes an official member of the Ubuntu family. From the release notes: "Alpha 3 includes the 3.0.0-7.9 Ubuntu kernel which is based on the mainline 3.0 kernel. Some of the most notable changes between the alpha 2 and alpha 3 release with respect to the kernel include: adopted a 3 digit kernel version, e.g. 3.0.0-x.y; re-base to upstream 3.0 final kernel; enable Overlayfs; enable Realtek RTL8192CU and RTL8188CU WiFi driver; enable support for rt53xx wireless chipset family...." See also the release announcement. Download (SHA256): oneiric-desktop-i386.iso (712MB, torrent), oneiric-desktop-amd64.iso (709MB, torrent). Also made available today were 11.10 alpha 3 releases for Kubuntu (download, release notes), Edubuntu (download), Lubuntu (download) and Mythbuntu (download).

Kate Stewart has announced the release of Ubuntu 10.04.3 and Kubuntu 10.04.3, a maintenance update to the projects' latest releases with long-term support: "The Ubuntu team is proud to announce the release of Ubuntu 10.04.3 LTS, the third maintenance update to Ubuntu's 10.04 LTS release. This release includes updated server, desktop, alternate installation CDs and DVDs for the i386 and amd64 architectures. The Kubuntu team is proud to announce the release of Kubuntu 10.04.3. This release includes updated images for the desktop and alternate installation CDs for the i386 and amd64 architectures. Numerous updates have been integrated, and updated installation media have been provided so that fewer updates will need to be downloaded after installation." See the release announcement and the detailed summary of changes for more information. Download: ubuntu-10.04.3-desktop-i386.iso (688MB, SHA256), ubuntu-10.04.3-desktop-amd64.iso (689MB, SHA256), kubuntu-10.04.3-desktop-i386.iso (696MB, SHA256), kubuntu-10.04.3-desktop-amd64.iso (699MB, SHA256).

Kate Stewart has announced the availability of the second alpha release of Ubuntu 11.10, code name "Oneiric Ocelot": "Welcome to Oneiric Ocelot alpha 2, which will in time become Ubuntu 11.10. Alpha 2 is the second in a series of milestone images that will be released throughout the Oneiric development cycle. New packages showing up for the first time include: Linux Kernel 3.0-rc5, GCC 4.6.1 compiler, Firefox 5.0, Thunderbird 5.0, a Mesa 7.11 snapshot. Alpha 2 ships GNOME 3.0, with some parts already upgraded to the 3.1.2 alpha releases. Unity, the theme, and Ayatana scrollbars were updated for GTK+/GNOME 3. See the release announcement and release notes for full details about this alpha build. Download (SHA256): oneiric-desktop-i386.iso (714MB, torrent), oneiric-desktop-amd64.iso (709MB, torrent). Xubuntu 11.10 alpha 2 (download) and Edubuntu 11.10 alpha 2 (download) can be obtained from usual locations, but Kubuntu 11.10 alpha 2 images will not be available.

Kate Stewart has announced the availability of the first alpha release of Ubuntu 11.10, code name "Oneiric Ocelot": "Our Oneiric Ocelot (Ubuntu 11.10 alpha 1) is poking its young head out of the den, and looking for some developers and testers to play with. As with every new release, packages are being updated at a rapid pace. Many of these packages came from an automatic sync from Debian's unstable branch, others have been explicitly pulled in for 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot. Some of the key packages making their first appearance with this alpha 1 release are: Linux Kernel 2.6.39 based on the latest mainline release candidate kernel at kernel milestone freeze kernel; the default compiler has been bumped from GCC 4.5 to GCC 4.6; NetworkManager 0.9. For further information please refer to the release announcement and release notes. Download (SHA256): oneiric-desktop-i386.iso (714MB, torrent), oneiric-desktop-amd64.iso (715MB, torrent). Alpha 1 images are also available for Kubuntu (download), Xubuntu (download) and Edubuntu (download).

Ubuntu 11.04, a new version of the popular Linux distribution for desktops and servers, has been released: "The Ubuntu team is pleased to announce Ubuntu 11.04, code-named 'Natty Narwhal'. 11.04 continues Ubuntu's proud tradition of integrating the latest and greatest open source technologies into a high-quality, easy-to-use Linux distribution. For PC users, Ubuntu 11.04 supports laptops, desktops and netbooks with a unified look and feel based on a new desktop shell called 'Unity'. This version supersedes Ubuntu Netbook Edition for all PC netbooks. Developer reference images are provided for select Texas Instruments (TI) ARM platforms, specifically the 'PandaBoard' and 'BeagleBoard'. Ubuntu Server 11.04 has made it easier to provision servers, and reduce power consumption." See the release announcement and release notes for more information. Download (SHA256): ubuntu-11.04-desktop-i386.iso (685MB, torrent), ubuntu-11.04-desktop-amd64.iso (698MB, torrent).

Kate Stewart has announced the release of Ubuntu 10.04.2, an updated set of CD and DVD images with all the security errata and bug-fix updates since the release of Ubuntu 10.04 in April 2010: "The Ubuntu team is proud to announce the release of Ubuntu 10.04.2 LTS, the second maintenance update to Ubuntu's 10.04 LTS release. This release includes updated images for the desktop, alternate installation CDs and DVDs for the i386 and amd64 architectures. Numerous updates have been integrated, and updated installation media has been provided so that fewer updates will need to be downloaded after installation." Here is the release announcement. Those users who regularly update their Ubuntu 10.04 systems don't need to download the new CD images, but they are available for download (SHA256) for those users who need to perform a new installation: ubuntu-10.04.2-desktop-i386.iso (687MB, torrent), ubuntu-10.04.2-desktop-amd64.iso (688MB, torrent). Updated Kubuntu 10.04.2 CD images are also available, while new Xubuntu 10.04.2 CD images can be downloaded from here.

Kate Stewart has announced the availability of the first alpha release of Ubuntu 11.04, code name "Natty Narwhal": "Natty Narwhal is doing a first bit of spy hopping, also known as alpha 1, which will in time become Ubuntu 11.04." New features include Unity as the default user interface: "Unity is now the default in the Ubuntu desktop session. The Unity Launcher is now available; it can be used to launch applications that are pinned to the launcher and switch between running applications. It supports quick lists on context menu. It can be set to auto-hide. Places is not yet available in alpha 1. Clicking the Ubuntu logo in the upper left of the screen will open the applications directory." Read the release announcement and release notes for further details. Download (SHA256): natty-desktop-i386.iso (717MB, torrent), natty-desktop-amd64.iso (723MB, torrent). Also available are the first 11.04 alpha builds for Kubuntu (download, announcement), Xubuntu (download), Edubuntu (download, release notes) and Ubuntu Studio (download).

It's 10:10:10 UCT on 10-10-10 which can only mean one thing - that a new version of the most popular desktop Linux distribution, Ubuntu 10.10, is out and ready for general consumption: "The Ubuntu team is pleased to announce Ubuntu 10.10. Focused on home and mobile computing users, Ubuntu 10.10 introduces an array of online and offline applications to Ubuntu Desktop edition with a particular focus on the personal cloud. Ubuntu Netbook Edition users will experience an all-new desktop interface called 'Unity' -- specifically tuned for smaller screens and computing on the move." Also includes a brand-new Ubuntu font family, a redesigned system installer, the latest GNOME 2.32 desktop, Shotwell as the new default photo manager, and a number of other features. See the release announcement, press release and release notes for further details. Download (SHA256): ubuntu-10.10-desktop-i386.iso (693MB, torrent), ubuntu-10.10-desktop-amd64.iso (695MB, torrent).

Robbie Williamson has announced the availability of the beta release of Ubuntu 10.10, code name "Maverick Meerkat": "The Ubuntu team is pleased to announce the release of Ubuntu 10.10 beta." Some of the interesting new desktop features include: "The GNOME base platform has been updated to the current 2.31 versions. Evolution was updated to the 2.30.2 version, which operates much faster than the version in Ubuntu 10.04 LTS. Shotwell has replaced F-Spot as the default photo manager. Gwibber has been updated to support the recent change in Twitter's authentication system, as well as changing the back-end storage to improve performance. The Sound Indicator has been enhanced to include music player controls. New themes, new icons, and new wallpaper bring a dramatically updated look and feel to Ubuntu." See the release announcement and release notes for more details. Download (SHA256): ubuntu-10.10-beta-desktop-i386.iso (694MB, torrent), ubuntu-10.10-beta-desktop-amd64.iso (695MB, torrent). Also release today were 10.10 beta builds of Kubuntu (download, release notes), Xubuntu (download), Edubuntu (download), Mythbuntu (download) and Ubuntu Studio (download).

Robbie Williamson has announced Ubuntu 10.04.1, the first maintenance update to Ubuntu's 10.04 LTS release: "This release includes updated server, desktop, and alternate installation CDs for the i386 and amd64 architectures. This is the first maintenance release of Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, which continues to be supported with maintenance updates and security fixes until April 2013 on desktops and April 2015 on servers. Numerous post-release updates have been integrated, and a number of bugs in the installation system have been corrected. These include security updates and corrections for other high-impact bugs, with a focus on maintaining stability and compatibility with Ubuntu 10.04 LTS." See the release announcement for further information. A complete list of post-release updates will be made available tomorrow. Download (SHA256): ubuntu-10.04.1-desktop-i386.iso (686MB, torrent), ubuntu-10.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso (686MB, torrent).

Martin Pitt has announced the availability of the second alpha release of Ubuntu 10.10 - now with Linux kernel 2.6.35, support for the Btrfs file system and Unity as the default user interface of the project's netbook edition: "Welcome to Maverick Meerkat alpha 2, which will in time become Ubuntu 10.10. New features: updated packages; the GNOME base platform has been updated to the current 2.31 versions, this particularly includes the new dconf and gsettings API; Evolution was updated to the 2.30 version, which operates much faster compared to the version in Ubuntu 10.04 LTS; KDE was updated to the current 4.5 RC 1 release; Qt was updated to the current 4.7 beta release; the new Unity interface is now the default in Ubuntu Netbook Edition; Linux kernel 2.6.35 based on 2.6.35-rc3; new cloud-init features...." See the release announcement and release notes for more details. Download (SHA256): maverick-desktop-i386.iso (687MB, torrent), maverick-desktop-amd64.iso (694MB, torrent). Also released today were the second 10.10 alpha builds for Kubuntu (download, release notes), Xubuntu (download), Ubuntu Studio (download) and Mythbuntu (download).

Colin Watson has announced the availability of the first alpha release of Ubuntu 10.10, code name "Maverick Meerkat": "Welcome to Maverick Meerkat Alpha 1, which will in time become Ubuntu 10.10." New features: "The GNOME base platform has been updated to the current 2.31 versions, this includes the new dconf and gsettings API; Evolution was updated to the 2.30 version, which operates much faster compared to the version in Ubuntu 10.04 LTS; KDE was updated to the current 4.5 beta 1 release; Qt was updated to the current 4.7 beta release; Linux kernel 2.6.34." Read the release announcement and release notes for further information and a list of known issues. Download (SHA256): maverick-desktop-i386.iso (672MB, torrent), maverick-desktop-amd64.iso (693MB, torrent). Also released today were initial 10.10 alpha builds for Kubuntu (download), Xubuntu (download) and Ubuntu Studio (download).

Ubuntu 10.04, the latest version of the popular Linux distribution for desktops and servers, has been released: "The Ubuntu team is pleased to announce Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Long-Term Support). This release incorporates the Desktop edition and the Server edition. The Server edition can be used on physical servers, on Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (UEC), and on Amazon's EC2 public cloud. Code-named 'Lucid Lynx', 10.04 LTS continues Ubuntu's proud tradition of integrating the latest and greatest open source technologies into a high-quality, easy-to-use Linux distribution. We are also pleased to announce Ubuntu 10.04 Netbook edition, which is not a long-term support release. Ubuntu 10.04 LTS will be supported for three years on desktops and five years on servers. Ubuntu 10.04 Netbook edition will be supported for 18 months." See the release announcement, press release, release notes and feature list for further information. Download (SHA256): ubuntu-10.04-desktop-i386.iso (699MB, torrent), ubuntu-10.04-desktop-amd64.iso (697MB, torrent).

Steve Langasek has announced the availability of the third alpha release of Ubuntu 10.04, code name "Lucid Lynx": "Welcome to Lucid Lynx Alpha 3, which will in time become Ubuntu 10.04 LTS." New features: "The default search engine has been changed to Yahoo! The default home page will use either Google or Yahoo! depending on user setting. Alpha 3 includes the 2.6.32 kernel based on 2.6.32.8. Alpha 3 of Kubuntu features the new KDE SC 4.4. The nouveau video driver is now the default for NVIDIA hardware, this driver provides kernel mode setting, which will give improved resolution detection. We now feature built-in integration with Twitter, identi.ca, Facebook, and other social networks with the MeMenu in the panel." See the release announcement and release notes for further information and known issues. Download (SHA256): lucid-desktop-i386.iso (686MB, torrent), lucid-desktop-amd64.iso (689MB, torrent). Also released today are new alpha CD/DVD images of Kubuntu (download, release notes), Xubuntu (download), Edubuntu (download), Mythbuntu (download) and Ubuntu Studio (download).

Steve Langasek has announced the availability of the fourth update to Ubuntu 8.04 LTS, the current long-term support Ubuntu version that is supported with security updates until April 2011 on desktops and April 2013 on servers: "The Ubuntu team is proud to announce the release of Ubuntu 8.04.4 LTS, the fourth maintenance update to Ubuntu's 8.04 LTS release. This release includes updated server, desktop, and alternate installation CDs for the i386 and amd64 architectures. This is the final maintenance release of 8.04 LTS. In all, some 70 updates have been integrated." Read the rest of the release announcement for more information. Existing installations of Ubuntu 8.04 can be updated using the distribution's standard update tools. For new installations, here are the quick links to the desktop live CD and server installation images (SHA256): ubuntu-8.04.4-desktop-i386.iso (700MB, torrent), ubuntu-8.04.4-desktop-amd64.iso (698MB, torrent), ubuntu-8.04.4-server-i386.iso (568MB, torrent), ubuntu-8.04.4-server-amd64.iso (567MB, torrent).

Steve Langasek has announced the availability of the second alpha release of Ubuntu 10.04, code name "Lucid Lynx": "Welcome to Lucid Lynx Alpha 2, which will in time become Ubuntu 10.04 LTS. New features: updated packages, Linux kernel 2.6.32, KDE 4.4 RC1; full removal of the HAL package, making Ubuntu faster to boot and faster to resume from suspend; Likewise Open package, which provides Active Directory authentication and server support for Linux, has been updated to version 5.4; improved support for NVIDIA proprietary graphics drivers; new features for Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud...." Read the release announcement and release notes for further information and known issues. Download (SHA256): lucid-desktop-i386.iso (668MB, torrent), lucid-desktop-amd64.iso (677MB, torrent). Also released today were 10.04 alpha 2 CD or DVD images for Kubuntu (download, release notes), Xubuntu (download), Edubuntu (download) and Mythbuntu (download).

Steve Langasek has announced the availability of the first alpha release of Ubuntu 10.04, code name "Lucid Lynx": "Welcome to Lucid Lynx Alpha 1, which will in time become Ubuntu 10.04 LTS. New features: updated packages, Linux kernel 2.6.32, KDE 4.4 beta 1, HAL removal. Known issues: the nv driver used by default for NVIDIA video chipsets on the live CD is reported to lead to X server crashes; the firmware for the bnx2 driver is not available on the alternate and server installer images at install time; manual partitioning in the graphical installer is reported to cause the installer to crash; clicking on the installer icon on the Kubuntu desktop CD fails to launch Ubiquity; the Kubuntu alpha 1 desktop ISOs are too large to fit on a CD." See the release announcement and release notes for more details. Download (SHA256): lucid-desktop-i386.iso (685MB, torrent), lucid-desktop-amd64.iso (690MB, torrent). Also released today: Kubuntu 10.04 alpha 1 (download, release notes) and Xubuntu 10.04 alpha 1 (download).

Canonical has announced the release of Ubuntu 9.10, the latest version of the project's flagship operating system for desktops, laptops and servers: "Ubuntu 9.10 brings changes small and large that all have a common purpose - to make Ubuntu the most user-friendly operating system available. Ubuntu 9.10 features a redesigned, faster boot and login experience, a revamped audio framework, and improved 3G broadband connectivity, all of which contribute to a first-class user experience. Furthermore, the innovative '100 Paper Cuts' initiative organised with the Ubuntu Community allowed users to nominate minor annoyances that impacted their enjoyment of the platform. So far over 50 fixes have been committed, removing minor irritants such as inconsistent naming or poorly organised application choices." See the press release, release notes and feature overview for more information. Download (MD5): ubuntu-9.10-desktop-i386.iso (690MB, torrent), ubuntu-9.10-desktop-amd64.iso (691MB, torrent).

Steve Langasek has announced the availability of the sixth alpha release of Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala": "Welcome to Karmic Koala Alpha 6, which will in time become Ubuntu 9.10." New features in this alpha include Upstart and Ubuntu Software Store: "As part of our boot performance work, we have now transitioned to Upstart. If you are testing on your primary machine, we strongly suggest having an Ubuntu Karmic alpha 5 live CD available, or creating an Alpha 5 USB start-up disk before doing an upgrade. Ubuntu Karmic Alpha 6 includes the Ubuntu Software Store. It is temporarily located under System, with a plan to replace AddRemove in the Beta release." See the release announcement and release notes for more information and known issues. Download (SHA256): karmic-desktop-i386.iso (694MB, torrent), karmic-desktop-amd64.iso (695MB, torrent). Besides Ubuntu, "Karmic Koala" Alpha 6 images for Kubuntu (download, release notes), Xubuntu (download), Ubuntu Studio (download) and Mythbuntu (download) have also been released.

The fifth alpha release of Ubuntu 9.10, code name "Karmic Koala", is out and ready for testing: "Welcome to Karmic Koala Alpha 5, which will in time become Ubuntu 9.10." The standard release announcement contains no new information while the release notes have been slightly updated to reflect the introduction of a new development version of GNOME (2.27.91 as opposed to 2.27.4 in Alpha 4) and a newer kernel (version 2.6.31-rc8 updated from 2.6.31-rc5 in Alpha 4). Otherwise they contain the same feature list as the previous release notes: updated packages, Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud, a new file sharing service, new Intel video driver architecture, GCC 4.4 as the default compiler, ext4 as the default file system and GRUB 2 as the default bootloader. Those interested in testing the new build can download (SHA256) the desktop live CD images from here: karmic-desktop-i386.iso (696MB, torrent), karmic-desktop-amd64.iso (698MB, torrent). Besides Ubuntu, "Karmic Koala" Alpha 5 images for Kubuntu (download, release notes), Xubuntu (download) and Mythbuntu (download) are also available.

Steve Langasek has announced the availability of the fourth alpha release of Ubuntu 9.10, now including the first CD images for Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud: "Welcome to Karmic Koala Alpha 4, which will in time become Ubuntu 9.10. New features: GNOME 2.27.4 development release; Kubuntu includes its first Netbook release, Social from the Start, and the latest KDE packages; the first Karmic alpha images for the Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (UEC) and Amazon's EC2; Ubuntu One file sharing service provides tightly integrated file synchronization with other computers and the Ubuntu One network storage service; includes the 2.6.31-5.24 kernel based on 2.6.31-rc5, ships with Kernel Mode Setting enabled for Intel graphics...." Read the release announcement and release notes to learn more. Download (MD5): karmic-desktop-i386.iso (696MB, torrent), karmic-desktop-amd64.iso (698MB, torrent). Also available are alpha 4 CD images for Kubuntu (download, release notes), Xubuntu (download), Ubuntu Studio (download), Mythbuntu (download).

Steve Langasek has announced the release of Ubuntu 8.04.3 LTS, the third update of the distribution's special version with long-term support (3 years on the desktop and 5 years on the server): "The Ubuntu team is proud to announce the release of Ubuntu 8.04.3 LTS, the third maintenance update to Ubuntu's 8.04 LTS release. This release includes updated server, desktop and alternate installation CDs for the i386 and amd64 architectures. In all, 80 updates have been integrated, and updated installation media has been provided so that fewer updates will need to be downloaded after installation. These include security updates and corrections for other high-impact bugs, with a focus on maintaining stability and compatibility with Ubuntu 8.04 LTS." Read the full release announcement for a complete list of changes. Download (SHA256): ubuntu-8.04.3-desktop-i386.iso (698MB), ubuntu-8.04.3-desktop-amd64.iso (697MB).

Steve Langasek has announced the availability of the second alpha release of Ubuntu 9.10, code name "Karmic Koala": "Welcome to Karmic Koala Alpha 2, which will in time become Ubuntu 9.10." What's new? Updated packages; GNOME 2.27.1; Linux kernel 2.6.30 with kernel mode setting enabled for Intel graphics; new Intel video driver architecture; new compiler - GCC 4.4; ext4 as the default file system; GRUB 2 as the default bootloader; underlying technology for power management and laptop Fn key maps moved from hal to DeviceKit-power. Please refer to the release announcement and release notes for more details and known issues. Download (MD5): karmic-desktop-i386.iso (688MB, torrent), karmic-desktop-amd64.iso (694MB, torrent). Also released today were alpha 2 CD images for Kubuntu 9.10 (download) and Xubuntu 9.10 (download).

Martin Pitt has announced the availability of the first alpha release of Ubuntu 9.10, code name "Karmic Koala": "Welcome to Karmic Koala Alpha 1, which will in time become Ubuntu 9.10. Development for Karmic just recently opened and many of the new features have not yet started to appear. Currently the changes include the synchronisation of packages from Debian Sid, a new kernel based on 2.6.30, and the latest development release of GNOME, 2.27.1. Other features: technology for power management and laptop Fn key maps was moved from hal to DeviceKit-power and udev-extras; new Intel video driver architecture available for testing; Karmic uses GCC 4.4 as the default compiler." Read the release announcement and release notes for further information. Only the "alternate" installation CDs are available for download: karmic-alternate-i386.iso (674MB, MD5, torrent), karmic-alternate-amd64.iso (674MB, MD5, torrent). Also released today: Kubuntu9.10 Alpha 1 and Xubuntu9.10 Alpha 1.

Ubuntu 9.04 has been released: "The Ubuntu team is happy to bring you the latest and greatest software the Open Source community has to offer. This is their latest result, the Ubuntu 9.04 release, which brings a host of excellent new features. New features: Ubuntu 9.04 RC includes the latest GNOME 2.26 desktop environment with a number of great new features, including Brasero 2.26.0, an all-in-one CD burning application and the default disc burning utility in Nautilus, and improved handling of multiple monitors; X.Org server 1.6; Wacom tablet hotplugging; new style for notifications and notification preferences; significantly improved boot performance; Linux kernel 2.6.28; optional ext4 files system support...." Read the release announcement, release notes and feature overview for further information. Download (MD5): ubuntu-9.04-desktop-i386.iso (699MB, torrent), ubuntu-9.04-desktop-amd64.iso (697MB, torrent).

Steve Langasek has announced the availability of the sixth and final alpha release of Ubuntu 9.04: "Welcome to Jaunty Jackalope Alpha 6, which will in time become Ubuntu 9.04." Not much information is available on this release; in fact, both the release announcement and release notes are almost exactly the same as for alpha 5. The only difference is the number of known issues - with alpha 6, two of the seven known issues have been resolved, including the bug where the installer fails to tell the kernel to reload the partition table during partitioning and the OEM configuration failure. But the "encrypted home directory" feature in the installer is still disabled and the new X.Org Server 1.6 still doesn't support the proprietary ATI driver. If you are still interested in testing the new release, download (MD5) the live CD images from here: jaunty-desktop-i386.iso (698MB, torrent), jaunty-desktop-amd64.iso (693MB, torrent). The other members of the Ubuntu family have also entered alpha 6: Kubuntu (release notes, download), Xubuntu (download), Ubuntu Studio (download) and Mythbuntu (download).

Steve Langasek has announced the availability of the fourth alpha build of Ubuntu 9.04, code name "Jaunty Jackalope": "Welcome to Jaunty Jackalope Alpha 4, which will in time become Ubuntu 9.04. It includes a number of software updates that are ready for large-scale testing." New features: "Updated packages; the latest X.Org server, version 1.6; font dot-per-inch settings are now optimized based on your monitor's capabilities; new style for notifications and notification preferences; Linux kernel 2.6.28; option of installing on the new ext4 file system, ext3 remains the default." Read the release announcement and release notes for further details and known issues. Download (MD5): jaunty-desktop-i386.iso (690MB, torrent), jaunty-desktop-amd64.iso (695MB, torrent). Most other Ubuntu sub-projects have also released new alpha images; these include Kubuntu (download, release notes), Xubuntu (download) and Ubuntu Studio (download).

An updated set of CD and DVD images of Ubuntu 8.04, a distribution with long-term security support (5 years on servers, 3 years on desktops), was released today: "The Ubuntu team is proud to announce the release of Ubuntu 8.04.2 LTS, the second maintenance update to Ubuntu's 8.04 LTS release. This release includes updated server, desktop, and alternate installation CDs for the i386 and amd64 architectures. In all, over 200 updates have been integrated, and updated installation media has been provided so that fewer updates will need to be downloaded after installation. These include security updates and corrections for other high-impact bugs, with a focus on maintaining stability and compatibility with Ubuntu 8.04 LTS." Read the release announcement and summary of changes for a detailed list of all updates. Download (MD5): ubuntu-8.04.2-desktop-i386.iso (698MB, torrent), ubuntu-8.04.2-desktop-amd64.iso (696MB, torrent).

Steve Langasek has announced the availability of the third alpha release of Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope": "Welcome to Jaunty Jackalope Alpha-3, which will in time become Ubuntu 9.04. New features: updated packages; X.Org server 1.6 - in the short term, this will again cause increased instability for some users while the video drivers catch up; new style for notifications and notification preferences - a simple menu which can be used to set preferences for notification icons, such as where they pop up on the taskbar; includes the 2.6.28 kernel based on 2.6.28-rc8; ext4 installation support - supports the option of installing on the new ext4 file system, ext3 is likely to remain the default for Jaunty." Read the release announcement and release notes for more details. Download (MD5): jaunty-desktop-i386.iso (691MB, torrent), jaunty-desktop-amd64.iso (697MB, torrent). Also available are alpha 3 CD/DVD images for Kubuntu (download, release notes), Xubuntu (download), Ubuntu Studio (download) and Mythbuntu (download).

Steve Langasek has announced the availability of the second alpha release of Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope": "The Jaunty Jackalope Alpha 2 is the second alpha release of Ubuntu 9.04, bringing with it the earliest new features for the next version of Ubuntu. New features: packages -- applications and software of all kinds -- are being updated at a rapid pace; the latest X.Org server, version 1.6, is available; includes the 2.6.28-3.4 kernel based on 2.6.28-rc8. Known issues: The binary ATI and NVIDIA proprietary drivers and are not yet supported for this server and will exhibit various serious issues if run against it; choosing the 'encrypt home' option on the Ubuntu server or alternate CD will cause the installation to fail at user setup time...." Read the release announcement and visit the features page on Ubuntu Wiki to find out more. Interested beta testers can download (MD5 the desktop CD images from here: jaunty-desktop-i386.iso (692MB, torrent), jaunty-desktop-amd64.iso (698MB, torrent). Also released today were alpha 2 desktop and alternate CD images for Kubuntu 9.04 and alternate CD images for Xubuntu 9.04.

Colin Watson has announced the first alpha release of Ubuntu 9.04, code name "Jaunty Jackalope": "Welcome to Jaunty Jackalope Alpha 1, which will in time become Ubuntu 9.04. The primary changes from Intrepid have been the re-merging of changes from Debian. We've also been spending some time getting the new ARM port up and running, although its build daemons are still catching up so installable images will have to wait for a future alpha release. This is the very first roughly working set of images off the production line, and they haven't all been tested, so you should expect some bugs. Prominent among these are that some of the images are oversized and can only be tested using a DVD or a virtual machine, and that the desktop CD isn't ready yet! This release consists only of the alternate and server CDs; the desktop CD will follow in the next Alpha release." Here is the full release announcement. Download (MD5) the installation CD images from here: jaunty-alternate-i386.iso (699MB), jaunty-alternate-amd64.iso (700MB). Also released today were the 9.04 alpha 1 images for Kubuntu (download), Xubuntu (download), Ubuntu Studio (download) and Mythbuntu (download).

Steve Langasek has announced the availability of the sixth and final alpha release of Ubuntu 8.10, code name "Intrepid Ibex": "Welcome to Intrepid Ibex Alpha 6, which will in time become Ubuntu 8.10. New features: the newest GNOME 2.23.91 desktop environment with tons of bug-fixes and new features; X.Org 7.4 with much better support for hot-pluggable input devices such as tablets, keyboards, and mice; Linux kernel 2.6.27 with better hardware support and numerous bug-fixes; encrypted private directory; guest session; Network Manager 0.7; DKMS, allowing kernel drivers to be automatically rebuilt when new kernels are released; Samba 3.2 with clustered file server support, encrypted network transport, IPv6 support; PAM authentication framework." Find more details in the release announcement and release notes. Download (MD5): intrepid-desktop-i386.iso (696MB, torrent), intrepid-desktop-amd64.iso (698MB, torrent). Also available are alpha 6 CD images for Kubuntu8.10, Xubuntu8.10 and Ubuntu Studio8.10.

Steve Langasek has announced the fifth alpha release of Ubuntu 8.10, code name "Intrepid Ibex": "Welcome to Intrepid Ibex Alpha-5, which will in time become Ubuntu 8.10. New features in Intrepid: the newest GNOME 2.23.91 desktop environment with tons of bug-fixes and new features; X.Org 7.4 brings much better support for hot-pluggable input devices such as tablets, keyboards, and mice; Linux kernel 2.6.27 with better hardware support and numerous bug-fixes; encrypted private directory with support for a secret encrypted folder; guest session, a temporary password-less user account with restricted privileges; Network Manager 0.7 which comes with long-expected features, such as system wide settings, management of 3G connections (GSM/CDMA), management of multiple active devices at once, management of PPP and PPPoE connections...." Read the release announcement and take a look at the comprehensive release notes for more information. Download (MD5): intrepid-desktop-i386.iso (696MB, torrent), intrepid-desktop-amd64.iso (697MB, torrent). Also released were 8.10 Alpha 5 CD images for Kubuntu (download, release notes) and Xubuntu (download).

Steve Langasek announced the availability of the slightly delayed second alpha release of Ubuntu 8.10, code name "Intrepid Ibex": "Welcome to Intrepid Ibex Alpha-2, which will in time become Ubuntu 8.10. Pre-releases of Intrepid are *not* encouraged for anyone needing a stable system or anyone who is not comfortable running into occasional, even frequent breakage. They are, however, recommended for Ubuntu developers and those who want to help in testing, reporting, and fixing bugs. Alpha 2 is the second in a series of milestone CD images that will be released throughout the Intrepid development cycle. The Alpha images are known to be reasonably free of showstopper CD build or installer bugs, while representing a very recent snapshot of Intrepid." Read the release announcement and release notes for further details. The "alternate" installation images are available from mirrors: intrepid-alternate-i386.iso (697MB, MD5, torrent), intrepid-alternate-amd64.iso (696MB, MD5, torrent), along with "Server" ones. Also released: Kubuntu8.10 Alpha 2 and Xubuntu8.10 Alpha 2.

Canonical has announced the availability of Ubuntu 8.04.1 LTS, the first update of a product that comes with free long-term security support: "The Ubuntu team is proud to announce the release of Ubuntu 8.04.1 LTS, the first maintenance update to Ubuntu's 8.04 LTS release. This is the first maintenance release of Ubuntu 8.04 LTS, which continues to be supported with maintenance updates and security fixes until April 2011 on desktops and April 2013 on servers. The Ubuntu team has focused their efforts on resolving issues reported by people deploying Ubuntu out in the real world, including: Firefox has been upgraded to the final 3.0 release; the Samba client allows LANMAN authentication again; various problems with the FUSE interface to GNOME's new virtual file system have been fixed...." Read the rest of the release announcement for further details. Download (MD5): ubuntu-8.04.1-desktop-i386.iso (694MB, torrent), ubuntu-8.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso (693MB, torrent). Other members of the Ubuntu family of distributions have also been updated; that includes Kubuntu (download) and Kubuntu-KDE4 (download), Xubuntu (download), Ubuntu Studio (download) and Mythbuntu (download).

Steve Langasek has announced the availability of the delayed first alpha release of Ubuntu 8.10, code name "Intrepid Ibex": "Welcome to Intrepid Ibex Alpha 1, which will in time become Ubuntu 8.10. Alpha 1 is the first in a series of milestone CD images that will be released throughout the Intrepid development cycle. The primary changes from Hardy have been the re-merging of changes from Debian and the upgrade of the Linux kernel to a pre-release version of 2.6.26. As with the beginning of any development cycle, the Intrepid one has seen the merge floodgates open once again. This merge not only brings in lots of new version of various packages, but also a fair number of totally new applications." Read the release announcement and release notes for further details. Only the "alternate" installation images have been made available with this release; download them from here: intrepid-alternate-i386.iso (698MB, MD5, torrent), intrepid-alternate-amd64.iso (697MB, MD5, torrent). Also released: Kubuntu8.10 Alpha 1 and Xubuntu8.10 Alpha 1.

Welcome to the big Ubuntu release day! As expected, Canonical today announced the release of Ubuntu 8.04 LTS, a desktop and server Linux distribution with a long-term support characteristic: "The Ubuntu team is pleased to announce Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Long-Term Support) on desktop and server, continuing Ubuntu's tradition of integrating the latest and greatest open source technologies into a high-quality, easy-to-use Linux distribution. The latest Ubuntu release brings the best of open source together on a platform that is here to stay with 3 years of free updates. With hundreds of improvements and the addition of the latest version of Firefox amongst other outstanding applications, more and more users are assessing why Ubuntu wins more and more converts with every release." Read the release announcement, check out the release notes and visit the features page for more information. Download (MD5): ubuntu-8.04-desktop-i386.iso (699MB, torrent), ubuntu-8.04-desktop-amd64.iso (697MB, torrent).

Steve Langasek announced the release candidate of Ubuntu 8.04 "Hardy Heron": "The Ubuntu team is pleased to announce the Release Candidate for Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Long-Term Support) on desktop and server. Codenamed "Hardy Heron", 8.04 LTS continues Ubuntu's proud tradition of integrating the latest and greatest open source technologies into a high-quality, easy-to-use Linux distribution. We consider this release candidate to be complete, stable, and suitable for testing by any user... The Ubuntu 8.04 LTS family of variants, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, UbuntuStudio, and Mythbuntu, also reach RC status today. The final release of Ubuntu 8.04 LTS is scheduled for 24 April 2008 and will be supported for three years on the desktop and five years on the server." More info in the release announcement and release notes. Download (MD5): ubuntu-8.04-rc-desktop-i386.iso (690MB, torrent), ubuntu-8.04-rc-desktop-amd64.iso (692MB, torrent). Also released: 8.04 Release Candidate CD images for Kubuntu (download, release notes), Kubuntu KDE4 (download), Xubuntu (download), Ubuntu Studio (download), Mythbuntu (download) and other Ubuntu subprojects.

Steve Langasek has announced the sixth alpha release of Ubuntu 8.04 "Hardy Heron": "Welcome to Hardy Heron Alpha-6, which will in time become Ubuntu 8.04." Some of the features of this release include "X.Org 7.3 with a new screen resolution utility that allows users to dynamically configure the resolution, refresh rate, and rotation of a second monitor; kernel based on 2.6.24.3 bringing in significant enhancements and fixes that have been merged in the last few months into the mainline kernel, PulseAudio enabled by default; Firefox 3 Beta 3 replaces Firefox 2 as the default browser; additional memory access checks so that /dev/mem and /dev/kmem can only be used to access device memory...." Read the release announcement and release notes for more information. Download (MD5): hardy-desktop-i386.iso (691MB, torrent), hardy-desktop-amd64.iso (696MB, torrent). Also released: 8.04 Alpha 6 images for Kubuntu (download, release notes), Kubuntu-KDE4 (download), Edubuntu (download), Xubuntu (download) and Ubuntu Studio (download).

Steve Langasek has announced the availability of a new development build of Ubuntu 8.04, code name "Hardy Heron": "Welcome to Hardy Heron Alpha-4, which will in time become Ubuntu 8.04." What's new? "X.Org 7.3, with an emphasis on better autoconfiguration with a minimal configuration file; Linux kernel 2.6.24 brings in significant enhancements and fixes that have been merged in the last few months into the mainline kernel; PulseAudio enabled by default; PolicyKit integration is visible in the administrative user interfaces; Firefox 3 beta 2 bringing much better system integration including icon and colour theming; the GTK+ version of the popular Transmission BitTorrent client; the new Vinagre VNC client; the Brasero CD/DVD burning application; World Clock Applet..." See the release announcement and release notes for further details and screenshots. Download (MD5): hardy-desktop-i386.iso (684MB, torrent), hardy-desktop-amd64.iso (688MB, torrent). Also released - Alpha 4 CD images for Kubuntu (release notes, download), Edubuntu (download) and Ubuntu Studio (download).

Canonical has announced the release of Ubuntu 6.06.2 LTS, the second update to its "Long Term Support" release from June 2006: "Canonical, the commercial sponsors of the Ubuntu project, announced today the second maintenance release of Ubuntu 6.06 LTS, which continues to be supported with maintenance updates and security fixes until June 2009 on desktops and June 2011 on servers. Over 600 post-release updates have been integrated, so that fewer updates will need to be downloaded after installation, and the installation system has been improved. These include security updates and corrections, with a focus on maintaining stability and compatibility with Ubuntu 6.06 LTS. Some particularly notable updates in Ubuntu 6.06.2 LTS include: Users can configure LVM using RAID partitions as physical volumes; detection of the DAC960 RAID controller...." Read the rest of the press release for further details. Download the updated Ubuntu Server CD images from here (MD5): ubuntu-6.06.2-server-i386.iso (434MB), ubuntu-6.06.2-server-amd64.iso (431MB).

Steve Langasek has announced that the third alpha release of Ubuntu 8.04 "Hardy Heron" is out and ready for testing: "Welcome to Hardy Heron Alpha-3, which will in time become Ubuntu 8.04." What's new? "X.Org 7.3, with an emphasis on better auto-configuration with a minimal configuration file; Linux kernel 2.6.24 brings in significant enhancements and fixes that have been merged in the last few months into the mainline kernel; PulseAudio enabled by default; PolicyKit integration makes it possible to run administrative applications as a normal user; Firefox 3 Beta 2 brings much better system integration including theming that mirrors the system such as icons and colours as well as having GTK+2 form buttons and open dialog." More info in the release announcement and release notes. Download (MD5): hardy-desktop-i386.iso (678MB), hardy-desktop-amd64.iso (683MB). Also available: Kubuntu (download, release notes), Edubuntu (download) and Xubuntu 8.04 Alpha 3 (download).

Steve Langasek announced the second alpha release of Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Hardy Heron) on late night of Dec 21 GMT: "Welcome to Hardy Heron Alpha-2, which will in time become Ubuntu 8.04. Pre-releases of Hardy are *not* encouraged for anyone needing a stable system or anyone who is not comfortable running into occasional, even frequent breakage. They are, however, recommended for Ubuntu developers and those who want to help in testing, reporting, and fixing bugs. Alpha 2 is the second in a series of milestone CD images that will be released throughout the Hardy development cycle. The Alpha images are known to be reasonably free of showstopper CD build or installer bugs, while representing a very recent snapshot of Hardy." Read the release announcement and release notes for more information. Download from your nearest mirrors or via BitTorrent (MD5): hardy-desktop-i386.iso (679 MB, torrent), hardy-desktop-amd64.iso (679 MB, torrent). Also available are 8.04 alpha 2 CD images for Kubuntu (download, release notes), Edubuntu (download), Xubuntu (download) and other Ubuntu subprojects.

Steve Langasek has announced the first alpha release of Ubuntu 8.04, code name "Hardy Heron": "The Ubuntu developers are moving very quickly to bring you the absolute latest and greatest software the open source community has to offer. The Hardy Heron Tribe 1 is the first alpha release of Ubuntu 8.04, and with this new alpha release comes a whole host of excellent new features. The feature list for 8.04 has been slowly taking shape since Heron opened late last month. While much is yet to be decided for 8.04, here are some of the new things that have already arrived, as well as a good look at the approved specifications for Hardy Heron." Read the release announcement and release notes for more information. Download (MD5): hardy-desktop-i386.iso (697MB), hardy-desktop-amd64.iso (698MB). Also available are 8.04 alpha 1 CD images for Kubuntu (download, release notes), Edubuntu (download), Xubuntu (download) and other Ubuntu subprojects.

Ubuntu 7.10 "Gutsy Gibbon" has been released: "Ubuntu makes no distinction between community and enterprise editions, Ubuntu 7.10 is our best work and is available freely to all. Ubuntu has consistently ranked #1 in reviews of security update responsiveness and effectiveness. The Ubuntu platform is fully certified and supported, making it a secure choice for users looking to explore, deploy and enjoy Linux. Ubuntu 7.10 brings together the best open source and free software available in a stable, robust environment that 'just works'... Ubuntu 7.10 Desktop edition adds an enhanced user interface, improved hardware support, multiple monitor support and integrated desktop search." Read the press release, release notes, and the tour page for more details. Download (MD5): ubuntu-7.10-desktop-i386.iso (696MB), ubuntu-7.10-desktop-amd64.iso (697MB).

Jonathan Riddell has announced the fifth alpha release (also known as "Tribe CD") of Ubuntu 7.10, code name "Gutsy Gibbon": "The Ubuntu release team is pleased to announce Tribe 5, the fifth alpha release in the Gutsy cycle. Images are now available for Ubuntu Desktop, Ubuntu Server, Kubuntu, Xubuntu and Edubuntu. Tribe releases are for developers and testers only, do not use them if you need a stable system." New features and applications include GNOME 2.19.90, a graphical configuration tool for X, an apt-enabled Firefox plugin finder wizard and Firefox extension manager, and a new printing system. Please see the release announcement and release notes for full details. Download: gutsy-desktop-i386.iso (695MB), gutsy-desktop-amd64.iso (700MB). Also available are "Tribe 5" CDs for Kubuntu (download, release notes), Edubuntu (download) and Xubuntu (download, release notes).

Sarah Hobbs announced the third alpha release (also known as "Tribe 3") of Ubuntu 7.10: "Tribe 3 is the third in a series of milestone CD images that will be released throughout the Gutsy development cycle. The Tribe images are known to be reasonably free of show-stopper CD build or installer bugs, while representing a very recent snapshot of Gutsy... Another set of new features landed in Tribe 3, and are ready for large-scale testing. Please refer to the following web pages for details..." See the complete release announcement. Download (MD5): gutsy-desktop-i386.iso (693MB), gutsy-desktop-amd64.iso (698MB). Also released: the third alpha of Kubuntu (see features), Edubuntu and Xubuntu (see features) 7.10.

Martin Pitt has announced the second alpha release (also known as "Tribe 2") of Ubuntu 7.10: "Welcome to Gutsy Gibbon Tribe 2, which will in time become Ubuntu 7.10. Features: GNOME 2.19.4 - Tribe 2 provides the GNOME unstable branch for testing and perfecting; Gnash - the long awaited free flash implementation currently being developed by GNU just got easier to install; XDG user directories - creates a standard set of default directories in your home folder; Firefox 3 Alpha in Universe; Compiz Fusion - is enabled by default and will bring 3D desktop visual effects that improve the usability and visual appeal of the system." See the release announcement for further details. Download (MD5): gutsy-desktop-i386.iso (692MB), gutsy-desktop-amd64.iso (697MB). Also released: the second alpha of Kubuntu (see features), Edubuntu and Xubuntu (see features) 7.10.

Martin Pitt has announced the first alpha release (also referred to as "Tribe 1") of Ubuntu 7.10 "Gutsy Gibbon": "Welcome to Gutsy Gibbon Tribe 1, which will in time become Ubuntu 7.10. Tribe 1 is the first in a series of milestone CD images that will be released throughout the Gutsy development cycle. The primary changes from Feisty have been the re-merging of changes from Debian. Common to all variants, we have upgraded the kernel to 2.6.22." Read the release announcement and visit the distribution's testing page for a detailed list of changes updates. Download (MD5): gutsy-desktop-i386.iso (695MB), gutsy-desktop-amd64.iso (699MB). Besides Ubuntu, the project has also released alpha 1 CD images for Kubuntu (release notes), Edubuntu and Xubuntu (see release notes).

Ubuntu 7.04, one of the most eagerly anticipated Linux distribution releases ever, is now officially out: "The Ubuntu team is proud to announce version 7.04 of the Ubuntu family of distributions. Ubuntu is a Linux distribution for your desktop or server, with a fast and easy install, regular releases, a tight selection of excellent software installed by default, an incredible variety of add-on software available with a few clicks, and professional technical support from Canonical Limited and hundreds of other companies around the world." Read the release announcement, check out the release notes and visit the Feisty Tour page for detailed information about Ubuntu 7.04. Download (MD5) from here: ubuntu-7.04-desktop-i386.iso (698MB), ubuntu-7.04-desktop-amd64.iso (699MB).

Tollef Fog Heen has announced the availability of the beta release of Ubuntu 7.04, code name "Feisty Fawn": "The Ubuntu team is proud to announce the beta release of Ubuntu 7.04. Ubuntu 7.04 is the most user-friendly Ubuntu to date and includes a ground-breaking Windows migration assistant, excellent wireless networking support and improved multimedia support. Ubuntu 7.04 server edition adds support for hardware facilities that speed up the use of virtual machines as well as other improved hardware support, making it an excellent choice as a web, database, file and print server, the fastest growing area of Linux server use. Desktop highlights: Windows migration tool, easy-to-install codec wizards, plug and play network sharing with Avahi...." Find further details in the release announcement. Download (MD5): ubuntu-7.04-beta-desktop-i386.iso (699MB), ubuntu-7.04-beta-desktop-amd64.iso (696MB).

Tollef Fog Heen has announced the fifth alpha (also known as "Herd 5") release of Ubuntu 7.04 "Feisty Fawn": "Ubuntu 'Feisty Fawn' 7.04 has month and a half before its planned release on April 19th. Herd 5, the last alpha release, is another milestone on the road to final release. The next release will be the first beta release of Feisty Fawn. Herd 5 brings with it mainly stability and other bug fixes." What's new? "The Human theme has been updated; VPN can now be easily used with the use of Network Manager and VPN plugins; Graphical Desktop Effects will be made extremely accessible, with one click activation in the system menu; X11R7.2 is utilized...." Find more details in the release announcement and also on the Ubuntu Herd5 and Kubuntu Herd5 pages. Download: (MD5): feisty-desktop-i386.iso (693MB), feisty-desktop-amd64.iso (674MB). Kubuntu, Edubuntu and Xubuntu Herd5 CD images are also out.

Tollef Fog Heen has announced the availability of the fourth alpha release of Ubuntu 7.04, code name "Feisty Fawn": "Welcome to Feisty Fawn Herd 4, which will in time become Ubuntu 7.04. The primary focus during the time from Herd 3 has been a mix of feature development and bug fixing. Please refer to Ubuntu Herd4 for information on changes in Ubuntu, and Kubuntu Herd4 for changes in Kubuntu." Here is the full release announcement, inclusive of a mirror list carrying the installation and live CD images of Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu and Edubuntu. Quick download links to the Ubuntu desktop CDs (MD5): feisty-desktop-i386.iso (694MB), feisty-desktop-amd64.iso (699MB).

Tollef Fog Heen has announced the third alpha release of Ubuntu 7.04, also known as "Herd CD" - now with painless multimedia codecs, new GNOME Control Centre, updated versions of most GNOME applications, and Kernel Virtual Machine (KVM): "Ubuntu 'Feisty Fawn' 7.04 has two and a half more months to go until its release date planned in April 19th, and already many exciting features have been introduced. Herd 3, the third Alpha release kicks off the most active period in the release schedule." Read the release announcement and visit the Herd 3 features page for further information. Download (MD5): feisty-desktop-i386.iso (693MB), feisty-desktop-amd64.iso (698MB). CD images for Kubuntu (features overview) and Edubuntu have also been released.

The second alpha build (also known as "Herd CD") of Ubuntu 7.04 started to appear on Ubuntu mirrors last week and the release was formally announced today: "Herd 2 released. The primary focus during the time from Herd 1 has been the re-merging of changes from Debian and inclusion of new versions of applications. Notably, we have upgraded the kernel to 2.6.20. This is an early set of images, so you can expect some bugs. Among these are the following: the alternate i386 install CD takes a very long time (about five minutes) to do hardware detection on some machines; the desktop installer sometimes mounts the newly partitioned hard drive and then fails." Read the release announcement and visit the features page for further details. Download (MD5): feisty-desktop-i386.iso (686MB), feisty-desktop-amd64.iso (691MB). Herd 2 CDs for Kubuntu (see new features), Xubuntu and Edubuntu 7.04 are also available.

The first development build of Ubuntu 7.04 "Feisty Fawn", also known as "Herd CD", has been released for testing: "Welcome to Feisty Fawn Herd 1, which will in time become Ubuntu 7.04. Herd 1 is the first in a series of milestone CD images that will be released throughout the Feisty development cycle. The Herd images are known to be reasonably free of showstopper CD build or installer bugs, while representing very current snapshots of Feisty. The primary changes from Edgy have been the re-merging of changes from Debian. Common to all variants, we have upgraded the kernel to 2.6.19." Read the release announcement and release notes for more details. Download (MD5): feisty-desktop-i386.iso (679MB), feisty-desktop-amd64.iso (686MB). On a related note, Herd 1 CD images for Kubuntu are also available.

Ubuntu 6.10, the latest version of the popular Linux distribution for desktops and servers, has been released: "The Ubuntu team is proud to announce the release of Ubuntu 6.10, codenamed 'Edgy Eft'. This release includes both installable Desktop CDs and alternate text-mode installation CDs for several architectures. Highlights of this release include: Tomboy, an easy-to-use and efficient note-taking tool; F-Spot, a photo management tool that enables tagging, photo editing and automatic uploading to on-line web management sites; GNOME 2.16; substantially faster startup and shutdown with eye-catching high-resolution graphics; the latest Firefox web browser, version 2.0; proactive security features, preventing many common security vulnerabilities even before they are discovered; Evolution 2.8.0...." Read the press release, release announcement and release notes for full details. Download (MD5): ubuntu-6.10-desktop-i386.iso (698MB), ubuntu-6.10-desktop-amd64.iso (691MB).

Tollef Fog Heen has announced that the release candidate for the upcoming Ubuntu 6.10 is now ready for testing: "The Ubuntu team is proud to announce the release candidate for version 6.10 of Ubuntu, Kubuntu and Edubuntu - codenamed 'Edgy Eft'. The release candidate includes installable live desktop CDs, server images, alternate text-mode installation CDs and an upgrade wizard for users of the current stable release. We consider this release candidate to be complete, stable and suitable for testing by any user. The final release of version 6.10 is scheduled for 26 October 2006 and will be supported for 18 months on both desktops and servers." More details can be read in the release announcement and release notes. Download (MD5): ubuntu-6.10-rc-desktop-i386.iso (672MB), ubuntu-6.10-rc-desktop-amd64.iso (671MB).

Matt Zimmerman has announced that a beta release of Ubuntu 6.10 is now available for download and testing: "The Ubuntu team is proud to announce the Beta Release of Ubuntu 6.10 - code named 'Edgy Eft'. Highlights include: GNOME 2.16; OpenOffice.org 2.0.4 RC2; X.Org 7.1; task selection for easier installation of mail servers, web servers, etc; a pre-release of the upcoming LTSP 5.0 with support for local devices, printers on thin clients as well as language and session selection from the LTSP login manager, network swapping, etherboot support out of the box and many more additions and improvements." Read the release announcement for more information. Download (MD5): ubuntu-6.10-beta-desktop-i386.iso (683MB), ubuntu-6.10-beta-desktop-amd64.iso (673MB). Alternative installation and server CDs, as well as CD images for the PowerPC architecture, are also available.

Tollef Fog Heen has announced the third alpha release (also referred to as "Knot CD") of Ubuntu 6.10: "Welcome to Edgy Eft Knot 3. The primary changes from Knot 2 have been finalising of feature goals and bugfixing. Common to all variants, we have changed the init system from the venerable sysvinit to upstart which is an event-driven init script system. In addition, all derivatives have new artwork, both for usplash as well as for login managers and default backgrounds. In Ubuntu, GNOME has been updated to 2.16.0. In Kubuntu, Konversation 1.0 has been included. For Xubuntu, the XFce core applications have been upgraded to 4.4 release candidate 1." Read the release announcement and visit the Knot 3 features page to learn more. "Desktop" and "Alternate" CD images for three architectures can be downloaded from the project's main download server (MD5): edgy-desktop-i386.iso (668MB), edgy-desktop-amd64.iso (690MB). CD images for Kubuntu (see features), Edubuntu and Xubuntu are also available.

Tollef Fog Heen has announced the second alpha release (also known as "Knot") of Ubuntu 6.10, code name "Edgy Eft": "Welcome to Edgy Eft Knot 2, which will in time become Ubuntu 6.10. The primary changes from Knot 1 have been implementations of feature goals as listed on this page. Common to all variants, we have upgraded X.Org to the 7.1 release. In Ubuntu, GNOME has been updated to 2.16.0 Release Candidate 1. Other notable changes are listed here. KDE has been updated to 3.5.4. Other notable Kubuntu changes are listed here." Read the full release announcement for further information and a list of up-to-date download mirrors. As always, the full range of live and installation CDs for various architectures is available for download from the project's main server; here is a quick link to the i386 Desktop CD: edgy-desktop-i386.iso (666MB, MD5). Kubuntu 6.10 Knot 2 CDs have also been released.

Colin Watson has announced the release of Ubuntu 6.06.1, an updated version of Ubuntu with more than 300 bug and security fixes over the original "Dapper Drake": "The Ubuntu team is proud to announce the release of Ubuntu 6.06.1 LTS, the first maintenance release of 'Dapper Drake'. This release includes both installable Desktop CDs and alternate text-mode installation CDs for several architectures, for Ubuntu, Kubuntu and Edubuntu. Xubuntu is also included, although commercial support for it is not available from Canonical Ltd." Full details about the fixes can be found in the release announcement. The usual range of Ubuntu products for different architectures can be downloaded from the distribution's main server or mirrors; here is a quick link to the i386 Desktop CD: ubuntu-6.06.1-desktop-i386.iso (698MB, MD5).

The first development CD image of Ubuntu release 6.10, code name "Edgy Eft", has been released for Intel x86, PowerPC, and AMD64 platforms: "Welcome to Edgy Eft Knot-1, which will in time become Ubuntu 6.10. Knot-1 is the first in a series of milestone CD images that will be released throughout the Edgy development cycle, as images that are known to be reasonably free of showstopper CD-build or installer bugs, while representing very current snapshots of Edgy. You can download it here, for Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Edubuntu and Xubuntu respectively." Read the full announcement and visit the Edgy Eft wiki page for more details. Three types of CD images (also BitTorrent files) for all three architectures are available from cdimage.ubuntu.com; here is a quick link to the edgy-desktop-i386.iso (679MB, MD5).

A specialist server edition of Ubuntu 6.06 designed for high-end SPARC64 processors has been released: "The Ubuntu team is proud to announce the release of Ubuntu 6.06 LTS server for Sun SPARC 64-bit architecture. Highlights of this release include: new kernels targeted at server platforms, the server kernels are tuned differently than the desktop kernels (providing better performance for server applications); turn-key LAMP installation for this common deployment scenario; improved support for clusters and SANs." Please refer to the release announcement for further information and download links. Get it from here: ubuntu-6.06-server-sparc.iso (392MB, MD5); also available via BitTorrent.

Right on schedule, Ubuntu 6.06, a distribution with long term support features, has been released: "Ubuntu, which has become one of the world's most popular Linux distributions in recent years, launched its latest version on June 1 following months of intense testing. The new release is titled Ubuntu 6.06 LTS (Long Term Support), and has a specific emphasis on the needs of large organisations with both desktop and server versions." For full details please read the formal press release and the more useful release notes, but don't miss the Do the Dapper Dance post on Mark Shuttleworth's web log either. As usual, Ubuntu 6.06 ISO images for three architectures are available for download from the many Ubuntu mirrors worldwide, while free official CD sets can be ordered via ShipIt. A quick link to the i386 CD image: ubuntu-6.06-desktop-i386.iso (698MB, MD5).

Matt Zimmerman has announced the availability of a release candidate for Ubuntu, Kubuntu and Edubuntu 6.06: "The Ubuntu team is proud to announce the Release Candidate for version 6.06 LTS of Ubuntu, Kubuntu and Edubuntu - codenamed 'Dapper Drake'. The Release Candidates includes installable live Desktop CDs, server images, alternate text-mode installation CDs and an upgrade wizard for users of the current stable release. We consider this release candidate complete, stable and suitable for testing by any user." Read the release announcement and visit the Dapper RC page for more details; especially the notes about CD image name change and the upgrade procedure. Download: ubuntu-6.06-rc-desktop-i386.iso (673MB, MD5). CD images and BitTorrent files for other editions and architectures are also available.

Tollef Fog Heen has announced that the seventh alpha ("Flight") releases of Ubuntu, Kubuntu and Xubuntu 6.06 "Dapper Drake" are now ready for testing: "Flight 7, the latest alpha of Dapper Drake, is now available. Notable changes include: crashes in the Live CD installer have been fixed; file systems are now mounted in the right order, which fixes GRUB installation with a separate /boot partition; leading and trailing spaces in passwords now work properly." Read the full release announcement and visit the Dapper Flight 7 page for more details and download locations. Quick download links to the Ubuntu i386 live and installation CDs (MD5): dapper-live-i386.iso (619MB), dapper-install-i386.iso (679MB).

An unscheduled second beta releases Ubuntu, Kubuntu and Edubuntu are now available for testing: "The Ubuntu, Kubuntu and Edubuntu teams are proud to present a second beta release of Ubuntu / Kubuntu / Edubuntu 6.06 LTS, codenamed 'Dapper Drake'. This release corrects some serious flaws in the installer present on the Desktop CD in the first beta release. Although the text-mode install CD also forms part of this release, it has not been modified since Beta 1." See the full release announcement for a list of changes and download mirrors. Quick download links to the i386 live CDs (MD5): ubuntu-6.06-beta2-live-i386.iso (619MB), kubuntu-6.06-beta2-live-i386.iso (658MB), edubuntu-6.06-beta2-live-i386.iso (698MB).

As expected, the beta release of Ubuntu 6.06 is now available for download and testing: "The Ubuntu team is proud to announce the Beta Release of Ubuntu 6.06 LTS - codenamed 'Dapper Drake'. The Beta Release introduces the new Desktop CD, which can be used both to try Ubuntu 'live' and to install the system. Ubuntu 6.06 LTS (long-term support) will be the first Ubuntu release to be supported for three years on the desktop, and five years on the server." For more information please see the release announcement and visit the Dapper Beta page. As always, the ISO images for three architectures can be obtained from the Ubuntu download servers; here is a quick link to the i386 live CD: ubuntu-6.06-beta-live-i386.iso (611MB, MD5).

The developers of Ubuntu Linux have announced the release of the sixth alpha (or "Flight CD") of Ubuntu Linux 6.06: "Flight 6, the latest alpha of Dapper Drake, is available. Significant changes affecting the installer and live CD include: Espresso has been further improved and should now work on PowerPC, it now correctly estimates time needed for installation; Espresso still has bugs, but we encourage everybody to test it and file bugs about any bugs you find; the default theme has been tweaked slightly; new versions of GNOME and KDE are included." See the release announcement and Dapper Flight 6 pages for a detailed list of new features, screenshots, and download links to Ubuntu, Kubuntu and Edubuntu live and installation CDs. Here is a quick link to the Ubuntu i386 live CD image: dapper-live-i386.iso (608MB, MD5).

The fifth alpha (also referred to as "Flight CD") of Ubuntu Linux, Kubuntu and Edubuntu 6.04 "Dapper Drake" has been released: "Flight 5, the latest alpha of Dapper Drake, is available. Significant changes affecting the installer and live CD include: a much improved version of Espresso, the live CD based installer is included; a new default theme has been included; NetworkManager has received a lot of attention and bugfixes; the X autoconfiguration on AMD64 has been improved; new development version of GNOME is included." For more information please refer to the release announcement and the Dapper 5 page. Download the live CD from here: dapper-live-i386.iso (585MB, MD5). As usual, the Ubuntu, Kubuntu and Edubuntu live and installation ISO images, as well as torrent files for the three supported architectures, are available from the project's download server.

The fourth alpha release (also known as "Flight") of the upcoming Ubuntu Linux 6.04 "Dapper Drake" is available for download: "This week brings us Dapper Flight 4, the fourth alpha release of Ubuntu 6.04 - The Dapper Drake. Dapper Flight 4 is the product of over 3 months of tremendous effort to mold the latest and greatest software the open source community has to offer into a coherent easy to use whole. The most significant milestone for Dapper Flight 4 is the UVF (Upstream Version Freeze). Aside from a few exceptions such as GNOME 2.14 and Espresso, most of what is in Dapper now is what will be in the final release in April." Visit the Dapper Flight 4 page for further details and screenshots showing the latest improvements. Quick links to the i386 ISO images (MD5): dapper-install-i386.iso (641MB) and dapper-live-i386.iso (615MB). New Kubuntu and Edubuntu images are also available.

The third alpha (also known as "Flight") release of Ubuntu Linux 6.04 "Dapper Drake" is ready for testing: "The Dapper Drake continues to improve bringing us great new software and many very beneficial improvements. This week brings us Flight 3, the third alpha release of Ubuntu 6.04 - The Dapper Drake. Improvements in this release include an updated installer CD boot splash, X11R7, GNOME 2.13.4, improved and simplified menus, new default desktop panel configuration...." Find more information in the release announcement and the features page. As usual, the Ubuntu download server contains live and installation ISO images, as well as torrent files for all three supported architectures. A couple of quick download links to the i386 CD images (MD5): dapper-install-i386.iso (626MB) and dapper-live-i386.iso (603MB). Kubuntu and Edubuntu Flight CD 3 images are also available.

The second milestone of the development of Ubuntu Linux 6.04 "Dapper Drake" has been reached: "Flight CD 2 is ready. This release has been somewhat delayed due to the switch to Linux 2.6.15 and the new hardware detection and activation infrastructure that comes along with it (new udev and the demise of the old hotplug scripts. Other significant changes affecting the installer and live CD include: new graphical x86 CD bootloader screen, using gfxboot; default vga16fb resolution changed to 640x400; new udev-based PCMCIA infrastructure supporting the new kernel...." Read the rest of the release announcement and see this list of changes (with screenshots) for further details. The installation and live CD images for the three supported architectures can be found in this directory; here is a quick link to the i386 installation ISO: dapper-install-i386.iso (607MB, MD5).

ZDNet has published a comprehensive round-up of reviews of several major Linux distributions, with emphasis on small business needs. The winner? Ubuntu Linux 5.10: "We emerged from our Linux experience with a strong preference for Ubuntu Linux 5.10, with SUSE Linux 10 a close second. Both did everything we required of them, and both have very low setup costs. Ubuntu, in particular, costs absolutely nothing to purchase. If you prefer to deal with a consultancy-like support service, then Novell Linux Desktop 9, may be a good move, while the very corporate Red Hat Desktop 4, could prove a sensible option for companies with large numbers of desktops." The feature starts here, while the individual distribution reviews follow on these pages: Ubuntu Linux 5.10, SUSE Linux 10.0, Novell Linux Desktop 9, Red Hat Linux 4 Desktop, Mandriva Linux 2006. See also the discussion on Slashdot.

"Flight" is the new name for development snapshots of Ubuntu Linux 6.04 "Dapper Drake". The very first of these development builds is now ready for testing: "This is Dapper Drake. Flight CD 1 is the first in a series of milestone CD images that will be released throughout the Dapper development cycle. There aren't many visible installer changes beyond Breezy yet, as we've been concentrating on merging work from Debian unstable, on getting things up and running at all, and on design work for this development cycle. To date, there have been 5219 uploads to Dapper, of which most (4064) have been automatic syncs from Debian unstable." Read the release announcement for all the details. The CD images and torrent files for the three architectures are available from here (for Ubuntu) and here (for Kubuntu). A quick link to the Ubuntu installation CD (i386): dapper-install-i386.iso (609MB, MD5).

The Ubuntu project has announced the release of a specialist server edition of Ubuntu Linux 5.10: "The Ubuntu team is proud to announce Ubuntu 5.10 Server, the first release of Ubuntu designed especially for server environments. Like the standard desktop Ubuntu, it occupies a single CD. However, it is distinguished by the following features: includes server-oriented kernels with out-of-the-box automatic support for multiprocessor systems; includes a wide variety of popular server applications; a slim default installation, occupying just 400 megabytes." The full release announcement. ISO images for the three supported architectures can be downloaded from here (MD5): ubuntu-server-5.10-install-amd64.iso (549MB), ubuntu-server-5.10-install-i386.iso (565MB), ubuntu-server-5.10-install-powerpc.iso (493MB).

Ubuntu has stormed the Linux distribution scene like no other project before. Although barely a year old, it has already attracted thousands of satisfied users ranging from absolute Linux beginners to seasoned UNIX administrators. What are the secrets of this tremendous success? A quality product combined with friendly community resources and clearly stated objectives. Robert Storey, no longer able to resist the forces of humanity, set out to investigate this new king of Linux distributions.

Right on schedule, a new stable version of Ubuntu Linux has been released: "The Ubuntu team is proud to announce Ubuntu 5.10. This is the official Ubuntu 5.10 release, and includes installation CDs, live CDs, and combination DVDs for three architectures. Ubuntu is a Linux distribution for your desktop or server, with a fast and easy install, regular releases, a tight selection of excellent packages installed by default, every other package you can imagine available from the network, a commitment to security updates for 18 months after each release and professional technical support from many companies around the world." A long list of new features and download links are included in the release announcement. Quick links to BitTorrent files for the i386 architecture: ubuntu-5.10-install-i386.iso (617MB), ubuntu-5.10-live-i386.iso (627MB). Live and installation CD/DVD ISO images for the i386, PowerPC and AMD64 architectures are available here (MD5).

The release candidate of Ubuntu Linux 5.10 is ready: "With just one more week to go before the final release of Ubuntu 5.10, the Ubuntu team is proud to announce the Ubuntu 5.10 Release Candidate. This is the final milestone before the official 5.10 release, and includes installation CDs, live CDs, and combination DVDs for three architectures. Highlights: GNOME 2.12.1; OpenOffice.org 2.0 beta 2; X.org 6.8.2 with wider hardware support; an enhanced tool for easily installing new applications; a new tool which makes it easy to install support for multiple languages...." Read the rest of the release announcement further details and download links. Quick links to the i386 installation and live CDs (MD5): ubuntu-5.10-rc-install-i386.iso (648MB) and ubuntu-5.10-rc-live-i386.iso (662MB).

A new development release of Ubuntu Linux 5.10 is now available for download and testing: "Colony CD 5 is ready. This will probably be the last Colony CD release before the final Breezy release, so any testing you can provide is appreciated. Significant installer changes since the Breezy preview release include: fix a cdebconf bug that made translations of the timezone and apt configuration dialogs disappear, and restore translations of a few post-reboot messages as well; avoid installing usplash on server installations; disable automatic LVM partitioning support on powerpc...." See the full release announcement for further details. Download (MD5): breezy-install-i386.iso (637MB) or breezy-live-i386.iso (654MB). As always, torrents and ISO images for the AMD64 and PowerPC architectures are also available.

Mad Penguin takes a detailed look at the preview release of Ubuntu Linux 5.10. The conclusion? "If they continue on down the path they're on now, Dapper Drake (sigh....) will be hard to compete with for the desktop space. This will place Ubuntu squarely in the same league as SUSE, Mandriva, Fedora, Xandros, and Linspire. This is a space normally reserved for the best of the best and one that I'd previously thought Ubuntu was incapable of achieving but opinions can change. Mine has. I'm not head over heels for Ubuntu but I will say that it makes a killer desktop that is one of the better Debian systems I've used. It can give even Libranet a run for its money... and it's free. Two thumbs up to them for their effort." The complete review with screenshots.

A preview release of Ubuntu Linux 5.10 "Breezy Badger" is now ready for download and testing: "The Ubuntu team is proud to announce the Preview Release of Ubuntu 5.10 - codenamed "Breezy Badger". The Preview Release includes both Install CDs and bootable Live CDs for three architectures. The highlights include: GNOME 2.12 - very fresh... released yesterday; OpenOffice.org 2.0 beta 2; X.org 6.8.2 with wider hardware support; an enhanced tool for easily installing new applications; a new tool which makes it easy to install support for multiple languages...." Find more information in the release announcement. Download (MD5): ubuntu-5.10-preview-install-i386.iso (694MB), ubuntu-5.10-preview-live-i386.iso (634MB). ISO images for AMD64 and PowerPC architectures, as well as BitTorrent trackers, are also available.

The fourth test release of the upcoming Ubuntu Linux 5.10 "Breezy Badger" is available for download and testing: "Colony CD 4 is ready. This will be the last Colony CD release before the Breezy preview, so any testing you can provide is appreciated. If you test it, be sure to send us a report to ubuntu-devel at lists.ubuntu.com. Significant installer changes since Colony 3 include: many fixes to the live CD, including usplash integration; GRUB tries harder to boot even when the BIOS fails to pass a boot drive; APT configuration when the network is unavailable should now be much faster...." Read the rest of the release announcement for further details. Download (MD5): breezy-install-i386.iso (610MB) and breezy-live-i386.iso (669MB). BitTorrent seeds, as well as ISO images for the PowerPC and AMD64 architectures, are also available.

The third snapshot of Ubuntu Linux 5.10 "Breezy Badger" has been released: "Colony CD 3, the third milestone release of the Breezy Badger development branch, is now available. Our last milestone release was over a month ago, and there has been a lot of interest in testing Breezy, so we are pleased to provide this snapshot to the community for testing." Highlights include new hardware detection with initramfs, splash graphical boot feature, Bluetooth support, enhanced "Add/Remove Programs", Ubuntu language selector, and other improvements; for more details please refer to the release announcement. Download (MD5): breezy-install-i386.iso (592MB), breezy-live-i386.iso (653MB). ISO images for the x86_64 and PowerPC architectures, as well as BitTorrent trackers can be found in this download directory.

PCBurn has published a comprehensive review of Ubuntu Linux 5.04. With the exception of the installer and network setup tools, the author was largely impressed: "Ubuntu has created an extremely pleasing desktop environment. Once the install is finished (only an issue for an unexperienced user) the system itself performs very well. Default applications and preferences have been thought out to make the user instantly productive. People looking for a Debian based system or new Linux users wanting to 'get into' it will find this an excellent desktop OS." The 4-page review with a handful of screenshots starts here.

This is the second development snapshot of Ubuntu Linux 5.10 "Breezy Badger": "Colony CD 2 is ready. This is the second in a series of milestone CD images that will be released throughout the Breezy development cycle, as images that are known to be reasonably free of showstopper CD-build or installer bugs, while representing very current snapshots of Breezy. This time round the Colony release does include a Live CD, although I'm afraid that I haven't been able to test it at all due to personal time constraints. Since Colony CD 1, Breezy has seen the transition of almost all C++ packages to g++ 4.0, and the modularisation of much of X.org." See the release announcement for more details about the changes. Installation and live CDs for i386, PowerPC and AMD64 architectures can be downloaded from this directory. Here are the usual quick links to the i386 images (MD5): breezy-install-i386.iso (617MB) and breezy-live-i386.iso (645MB).

ReviewLinux has published a good, comprehensive review of the latest release of Ubuntu Linux: "Keeping in mind that this is only Ubuntu's second official release, the quality of this distribution is absolutely outstanding. With a regular release cycle of 6 months, we will get to see if Ubuntu 'Breezy' Linux holds up to the reputation for stability and ease of use that has been set early on. As a result of being easy to use, well supported, and a very positive boost to the Linux desktop, I give Ubuntu a rating of 10 out of 10 and would recommend it to anyone (including spyware-infected grandparents). Try this distribution out if you are skeptical about Linux desktops and you just may be very surprised at how far it has come." The 4-page review starts here.

LXer has published a new review of Ubuntu Linux 5.04: "A tip of the hat to Ubuntu for its success. This distribution goes beyond a free, open source operating system with a business service model. Ubuntu has attracted and cultivated a dynamic and robust community of people willing to make the world a better place. Ubuntu's contribution to Linux has been to help promulgate Linux and increase the numbers of people using Linux. Ubuntu has done this by reaching places other distributions have failed to touch such as the underdeveloped countries on the planet and including everyone in the process. This is the kind of effort that makes a world work for everyone." Read the rest of the review with screenshots at LXer.com.

The first development release of Ubuntu Linux 5.10, code name "Breezy Badger", is now available for testing: "This is Breezy Badger. Colony CD 1 is the first in a series of milestone CD images that will be released throughout the Breezy development cycle, as images that are known to be reasonably free of showstopper CD-build or installer bugs, while representing very current snapshots of Breezy. This release includes only the Install CD, as we haven't started to build the Live CD yet. We expect to be able to rectify this soon." Full details can be read in the release announcement. Download from here: breezy-install-amd64.iso (606MB), breezy-install-i386.iso (623MB), breezy-install-powerpc.iso (640MB).

In this issue of DistroWatch Weekly, one of our enthusiastic readers couldn't resist to post a link to another Ubuntu review on a weblog: "Ubuntu is the latest and greatest operating system built on the Linux kernel, Gnome, the GNU utilities, and the Debian packaging system. Ubuntu 5.04, otherwise known as "Hoary Hedgehog", was released a little over 48 hours ago. It is the first Linux-based system I have encountered that is tolerable enough for me to use for everyday work. That is a great achievement. But Ubuntu is still rife with design flaws, some of them severe." Read the full article "My first 48 hours enduring Ubuntu 5.04". As commented by our reader, "This one is pretty realistic, and shows standard bugs inherent in most mainstream Linux distros today."

Ubuntu Linux 5.04, the "Hoary Hedgehog" release, came out on Friday, April 8. Is there a reason it's No. 1 on distrowatch.com? Or is it not all it's cracked up to be? Forevergeek.com presents an Ubuntu 5.04 Hoary Hedgehog review with the verdict claiming "Hoary Hedgehog is a rock solid distro, and is a great choice for a user with any level of Linux experience (it's also a great distro for beginners or people completely new to Linux)... However, Ubuntu isn't meant to be highly customizable. It is meant to install and work simply, elegantly, and well. It definitely achieves this goal, and I give it two thumbs up." Read the full review here.

Ubuntu Linux 5.04, code name "Hoary Hedgehog", is now available. It offers the following new features: Simple and fast installation, live CD's for Intel x86, AMD64 and PPC, GNOME 2.10.1, Firefox 1.0.2, first class productivity software, and X.org 6.8.2. Read the announcement and the complete release notes. Quick download links for the i386 architecture: ubuntu-5.04-install-i386.iso (587MB) and ubuntu-5.04-live-i386.iso (625MB). Install CD and live CD images for AMD64 and PowerPC computers are also available.

Slashdot has interviewed Mark Shuttleworth, the founder of Ubuntu Linux: "Q: Everything free - what's the business plan? A: I'd very much like to make the distro project sustainable, because I've never had the privilege to work with such talented guys who work as hard as this team, and they deserve to be rewarded and to know that people appreciate the value they add every day. If it doesn't work utthat way, though, I'm honoured to consider it a gift back to the open source world, which played such a critical role in helping me build Thawte. So I hope it's commerce, though it may turn out to be philanthropy. Either way, it's still cheaper than going back to space, or hooking up with fast planes/boats/women, which I supposed would be Plan B." The complete interview.

The release candidate of Ubuntu Linux 5.04, code name "Hoary Hedgehog" is now available: "The Ubuntu Team is proud to announce a release candidate for Ubuntu 5.04. This release candidate is a preliminary version of what you will see in Hoary when it makes its full release next week. The release candidate includes both Install and Live CDs for Intel/x86, PowerPC and AMD64. There are many new additions in Ubuntu 5.04. A long partial list is available in the announcement for the preview version of Hoary sent a few weeks ago, you can read it here." This is the full release announcement, which also mentions the simultaneous release of Kubuntu 5.04 RC. Quick download links for the i386 architecture: hoary-rc-install-i386.iso (597MB) and hoary-rc-live-i386.iso (623MB).

The Array 7 CD image set of Ubuntu Linux 5.04 is now available for downlad: "Array CD 7 is ready. This is the seventh in a series of milestone CD images, released when they're known to be reasonably free of showstopper CD-build or installer bugs, while representing very current snapshots of Hoary. As with earlier milestones, this release includes both the Install CD and the Live CD. It follows on from the Hoary Preview; the next milestone is the Hoary Release Candidate. If you haven't reported bugs that are annoying you yet, you're running out of time!" The release announcement includes a complete changelog. Download (i386): hoary-install-i386.iso (585MB), hoary-live-i386.iso (626MB). BitTorrent trackers and ISO images for AMD64, IA64 and PowerPC architectures are also available.

The first preview release of Ubuntu Linux 5.04 is now available for download and testing: "The Ubuntu Team is proud to announce the preview of their second release: Ubuntu 5.04-preview - codenamed 'Hoary Hedgehog'. The preview release includes both install CDs and bootable live CDs for three architectures. The highlights include: GNOME 2.10; X.org 6.8.2; Kickstart compatibility for automatic installations; several new desktop package-management tools to make it even easier to stay up to date; an ultra-fast boot process, with optimized init process and special optimizations for the hotplug system...." More details in the release announcement. Download (i386): hoary-preview-install-i386.iso (533MB), hoary-preview-live-i386.iso (515MB). ISO images for AMD64 and PowerPC architectures, as well as BitTorrent trackers, are also available.

Kubuntu is the result of the Ubuntu project's effort to satisfy the KDE fans of its distribution. The first test release of Kubuntu 5.04 was released today - it is a live CD for the i386 architecture, but other architectures will follow in the near future. If you intend to test the release, please note that bug reports are not yet accepted in Bugzilla, but should instead be reported on the kubuntu-devel mailing list. Here is the release announcement and a screenshot. Download Kubuntu from here: hoary-live-i386.iso (535MB) or get it via BitTorrent. More information about the current status of Kubuntu can be found on this page. Update: Kubuntu install images for various architectures are now also available, together with KDE 3.4 packages.

A new development release of Ubuntu Linux 5.04 "Hoary" is now available for download and testing. This is the last "Array" CD before "Hoary Preview". What's new? "New keymap selection code from Matthias Urlichs, that asks you to press various keys and works out your keyboard layout from that; some memory leaks fixed; serial console installation fixed; fixed auto-detection of AdvanSys, Fusion MPT, Future Domain, and QLogic ISP1020 SCSI devices; some fixes to apt configuration in the server install; X should now set a proper keymap corresponding to the keymap chosen during installation." Read the rest of the changelog in the release announcement. Download for i386: hoary-install-i386.iso (502MB) and hoary-live-i386.iso (479MB). Installation and live CDs for AMD64, IA64 and PowerPC architectures, as well as BitTorrent trackers, are also available.

A new set of development CD images for the upcoming Ubuntu Linux 5.04 "Hoary" has been released. Some of the improvements: "Fixed grub segfault on AMD64; running grub-install is safe again. Some very preliminary support for automatic installations using Kickstart, in addition to the automatic installation method ('preseeding') provided by debian-installer; not finished or documented yet, but I'd be interested to hear from people who need this feature. Improvements to installer rescue mode user interface. USB installations now supported on powerpc. Avoid signature validation errors when installing on systems with badly skewed clocks. Allow selecting multiple supported locales in expert mode." There is more in the release announcement. Download: hoary-install-i386.iso (506MB), hoary-live-i386.iso (481MB). ISO images for AMD64, IA64 and PowerPC architectures are also available.

Mad Penguin has reviewed a development release of Ubuntu Linux 5.04: "The latest Ubuntu release, by default, presents Gnome 2.9.91 as its desktop environment of choice. As a matter of fact, there are no other choices. It's either that or the highway right out of the box. I use Konqueror for a few different web-related tasks and found that it wasn't installed, so I attempted to use apt-get to install it. To my dismay, it wasn't on the list of available packages to install. Neither were many other applications I looked for. XMMS was missing (I know it's an old application, but I like it), as was Amarok (QT-based multimedia application) which I've found has been replacing XMMS for me lately. It's getting rather good. Of course I pretty much knew it wouldn't be there. If basic KDE applications were missing, why should I expect to see Amarok there?" Here is the full review with screenshots.

Ubuntu Traffic #21 is out: "Welcome to the twenty-first edition of Ubuntu Traffic. This issue covers the second week of the new year: January 8 - 14, 2005. Ubuntu Traffic summarizes the most important mailing list and IRC discussions involving the Ubuntu GNU/Linux distribution." Highlights: handling meta packages, installing from live CDs, supporting autorun, experimental Hoary live CD, ISDN support, interactive upgrade hooks, Community Council meeting, and other topics. More on this page. On a related note, OSNews has published a brief review of Ubuntu Linux 4.10 "Warty".

A new set of "Hoary" development CD images (both live CDs and hard disk installation CDs) have been released by the Ubuntu Linux development team: "Array CD 4 is ready. This is the fourth in a series of milestone CD images, released when they're known to be reasonably free of showstopper CD-build or installer bugs, while representing very current snapshots of Hoary. Starting with this release, the install CD and the live CD are being released together; they support the same set of architectures, and work in similar ways. This will allow a high-quality live CD to be released as part of Ubuntu much more easily than beforehand, and it causes the live CD to be a much better test of whether your hardware will be supported by the install CD." More details in the release announcement. ISO images for AMD64, i386, IA64 and PowerPC architectures can be downloaded from this server. The quick links for i386 images: hoary-install-i386.iso (514MB) and hoary-live-i386.iso (497MB).

This is a milestone development release of the Ubuntu Linux live CD: "The Ubuntu development team have reached their first milestone in the production of the Live CD version of the upcoming release of Ubuntu codenamed 'Hoary Hedgehog.' This edition features a completely redesigned system for creating Live CDs. While some people have tried rough previews, this is the first proper milestone for the live CD version. Anyone, especially folks who are using our previous release (4.10 'Warty Warthog'), are encouraged to try this out." Here is the complete release announcement. Download: hoary-live-amd64.iso (538MB), hoary-live-i386.iso (524MB), hoary-live-powerpc.iso (594MB).

A new development ISO image of the upcoming Ubuntu Linux 5.04 ("Hoary") has been released: "Array CD 3 is ready. This is the third in a series of milestone CD images, released when they're known to be reasonably free of showstopper CD-build or installer bugs, while representing very current snapshots of Hoary. Some notable installer improvements and bug-fixes in this release: end-to-end secure netboot installation; timezone and username/password questions moved to the first stage; rudimentary rescue mode added; default debconf priority dropped from critical to high, and several questions adjusted; example sources.list lines for security/universe fixed...." More details in the release announcement. Download: hoary-install-amd64.iso (560MB), hoary-install-i386.iso (543MB), hoary-install-ia64.iso (625MB) hoary-install-powerpc.iso (614MB).

Those who follow the development of Ubuntu Linux will be pleased to learn that an experimental live CD of the upcoming Ubuntu Linux 5.04 (Hoary) is now available for testing: "As many of you know, we've redesigned the live CD from scratch for Hoary, to simplify maintenance and to provide a base for some interesting new features. You'll find that it looks very much like a normal Ubuntu system (more so than the Warty live CD), and this is intentional. Whereas the old live CD used infrastructure derived from other live CD projects, the new design uses infrastructure from existing Ubuntu components (for example, for hardware detection), along with some completely new ideas." More details in the release announcement. If you'd like to help with testing, download the ISO image from here: hoary-live-i386-alpha1.iso (582MB).

A new issue of Ubuntu Traffic is now available: "Welcome to the fifteenth edition of Ubuntu Traffic. This issue covers the week of November 27 - December 3, 2004. Ubuntu Traffic summarizes the most important mailing list and IRC discussions involving the Ubuntu GNU/Linux distribution." Topics covered: UTF-8 in Hoary, Ubuntu games, Cooperation with Debian, rescue mode on Ubuntu CDs, restructured text on the Wiki, rolling out grepmap, KDE issues, Mozilla Firefox GNOME support, Control-Alt-Delete in Ubuntu, SVGALIB no more, GNOME Panel changes, Ubuntu security notifications, and other topics of interest. The latest issue of Ubuntu Traffic can be accessed here.

A new issue of Ubuntu Traffic is out (delayed because of the recent Ubuntu conference in MatarÃ³): "Welcome to the fourteenth edition of Ubuntu Traffic. This issue covers the week of November 20 - 26, 2004. Ubuntu Traffic summarizes the most important mailing list and IRC discussions involving the Ubuntu GNU/Linux distribution. Threads covered: live CDs for PPC (and more!), downgrading from Hoary, Ubuntu merchandise, documentation team update; more on language packs, dropping support for the Mozilla suite, encrypted home directories, apt authentication, concerns with sudo...." The latest issue of Ubuntu Traffic is available here.

OSNews has published a 2-page review of the recently released Ubuntu Linux 4.10: "All in all, Ubuntu will be a strong competitor for Fedora Core on my desktop. I will definitely install Fedora Core 3 in November, just to see what it has to offer. And then I will make a strategic decision. The differences will be subtle: an ocean of Debian packages vs. freshrpms.net, Redhat System Utilities vs. the brand-new GNOME System Utilities (which are very good in my opinion), Human vs. Bluecurve. Ubuntu has good cards to become my Linux distribution of choice. By all means, it's good to have a worthwhile competitor for Fedora in the GNOME arena. Kudos to Mark Shuttleworth and his gang of hackers!" The story starts here.

Although available for several days, the final release of Ubuntu Linux Live CD has now been officially announced: "Ubuntu 4.10 -- Warty Warthog -- released on October 20th has gotten great feedback so far. The Ubuntu Team is now pleased to announce that the companion Warty Live CD is released as well! The Live CD contains a snapshot of everything in the Ubuntu 4.10 but in a bootable trial form. It will allow you to try out Ubuntu before installing it, without repartitioning or overwriting any existing software or data. To use it, just place it in the drive and reboot your computer. It also contains a small collection of Free and Open Source software shipped in Ubuntu that you can install on your Windows system. The Live CD is only available for Intel and compatible 'i386' processors." Download: warty-release-live-i386.iso (643MB); also available via BitTorrent.

The first ever stable release of Ubuntu Linux, code name "Warty Warthog", is out: "The warm-hearted Warthogs of the Warty Team are proud to present the very first release of Ubuntu! Ubuntu is a new Linux distribution that brings together the extraordinary breadth of Debian with a fast and easy install, regular releases (every six months), a tight selection of excellent packages installed by default and a commitment to security updates with 18 months of security and technical support for every release. Warty can be installed in a minimalist mode for servers, or in full desktop mode. It works well on laptops and desktops." Read the rest of the release announcement. ISO images for AMD64, i386 and PPC architectures, as well as BitTorrent seeds are available from the Ubuntu download page. A quick link to the i386 ISO image: warty-release-install-i386.iso (523MB). Complimentary Ubuntu CDs can be ordered here at no cost.

A release candidate of Ubuntu Linux 4.10 is now available: "The warm-hearted Warthogs of the Warty Warthog Team are proud to present the very first release candidate of Ubuntu! Ubuntu is a new Linux distribution that brings together the extraordinary breadth of Debian with a fast and easy install, regular releases (every six months), a tight selection of excellent packages installed by default and a commitment to security updates with 18 months of security and technical support for every release. Less than a month ago, Ubuntu entered the Linux world with a preview release of its 4.10 distribution. The last month has seen extensive work by the Ubuntu community of testers, translators, contributors and coders." The release announcement. Download: warty-rc-install-i386.iso (525MB). A BitTorrent seed and ISO images for AMD64 and PPC architectures are also available.

If you haven't had a chance to try out the full preview release of Ubuntu Linux 4.10 (scheduled for final release later this month), here is your chance - with a newly released Ubuntu Linux Live: "In addition to the installation CD images which have been available as part of the preview release and ongoing daily snapshots, a live CD image is now available. This CD will allow you to try out Ubuntu before installing it, without repartitioning or overwriting any existing software or data. Just place it in the drive and reboot your computer." This is the announcement . Download: live-i386.iso (635MB); also available via BitTorrent.

Kuro5hin is the next in line with a review of Ubuntu Linux 4.10: "With a six-month release schedule, solid funding, and many prominent Debian and Gnome developers employed by Canonical to work on Ubuntu, the future looks bright for this project. For such a new distribution they have already come quite a long way. The mailing lists and IRC channel are full of people checking out the distribution, and has already moved into the top twenty distributions listed on DistroWatch, an impressive feat considering how young the project still is. As Ubuntu Warty is still in preview period, there are several quirks that are still being ironed out before the final release, but it is already a very stable and solid desktop system. I predict that this distribution will have the staying power that so many other Linux options seem to lack." The full story.

OSNews has published a very verbose, 6-page review of Ubuntu Linux 4.10: "On Ubuntu's first boot I was welcomed by GDM and the familiar nv skew, as I've come to call my screen's offset in the absence of NVIDIA's driver or further configuration. My first impression of GDM is how clean it is with it's solid light tannish backdrop and minimalistic interface: quite the contrast to Libranet's clutter, and much more subtle than KDM implementations I've seen in the likes of Conectiva and Lycoris. Upon logging in I was impressed by the speed of Gnome's load, I dare say nearly as fast as Yoper's prelinked KDE, though I haven't timed either. Overall, the entire system is very responsive, especially for a desktop environment." The full story.

ExtremeTech has published a review of a preview release of Ubuntu Linux 4.10: "We think Ubuntu Linux has a bright future. In some ways it reminds us of our old favorite, Libranet, but slimmed down and solely focused on Gnome as the desktop. Our experience with installing and using Ubuntu has been very positive, and we're looking forward to seeing future versions. Like OSX, it wisely uses sudo rather than root to execute commands as the superuser. We were also pleased to note that Firefox was the default browser for Ubuntu rather than the dreadful Epiphany browser. If you've been too afraid of installation headaches to try a Debian distro, consider giving Ubuntu a download." Read the full review with screenshots.

As reported on LWN, Slashdot and elsewhere, the first preview of Ubuntu Linux has been released: "Before we get to the good stuff I'm pleased to announce that we are nameless no more... the name of our distribution is 'Ubuntu' and the company supporting the project is Canonical Ltd. Ubuntu is a new Linux distribution that brings together the breadth of Debian with a focused selection of packages, regular releases (every six months) and a commitment to security updates with 18 months of security and technical support for every release." Ubuntu Linux is the first distribution shipping with the newly released GNOME 2.8. Read the announcement and visit the distribution's home page for more details. Download: warty-i386.iso (509MB). ISO images for AMD64 and PPC, as well as BitTorrent trackers are also available.